By Cara Parell, October 2008
Photo By Erin Green
Dr. Kendall Campbell was visiting a local retirement home with his church when he noticed a resident’s worn shoes. Before he left, he grabbed an old pair of shoes from his car, went back inside and returned empty-handed wearing the man’s old shoes.
“Everything he does is not out of obligation. Everything he does is with a purpose behind it,” said Desiree Hayes, executive director of the University of Florida Shands Eastside Community Practice, where Campbell is medical director.
Campbell has a big heart and a busy schedule. When he’s not treating Gainesville’s underserved population, he is working as assistant dean of minority affairs at the UF College of Medicine and as an assistant professor for the department of community health and family medicine.
As if his day jobs weren’t enough, Campbell is also minister of music and director of choirs at Oasis of Love Ministries and runs Degree Seekers, a youth outreach program near his hometown in DeFuniak Springs.
“Everybody has something they are supposed to do,” he said. “I believe I was called by God to do what I do.”
One of his most rewarding experiences was bringing children from his hometown to visit UF through the Degree Seekers program. He said he believes the biggest challenge facing young minorities is exposure to a variety of career paths, particularly medicine.
“The biggest thing I try to pass on is that this is available to you if you prepare to achieve and receive it,” he said.