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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>Beaufort Memorial Surgical Specialists has added another board-certified physician assistant to its clinical team, enhancing and expanding surgical care for residents north and south of the Broad River.</p>
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<p>Joining the practice is Lauren Ackley, PA-C, who assists its general surgeons in both the operating room and the clinic. She evaluates surgical patients before and after their procedures as well as patients referred to the practice from the emergency department and hospital floors.</p>
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<p>The Little Rock, Ark., native earned a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies in 2022 from University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, graduating second in her class, and a Bachelor of Science in biology, magna cum laude, in 2019 from University of Arkansas at Little Rock.</p>
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<p>The youngest of her family’s seven children and the only girl, Ackley credits a brother’s career in medicine for sparking an early interest in becoming a PA. Her work as a patient care technician in the ICU during PA school and beforehand as an anesthesia technician further inspired her passion for in-patient care and general surgery.</p>
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<p>Beaufort Memorial Surgical Specialists is a multiprovider practice offering breast, general and vascular surgery performed by highly experienced surgeons who are skilled in the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques. Ackley joins general surgeons Drs. Deanna Mansker, Schilling Nechtman and Stephen Sisco; vascular surgeon J. Chadwick (Chad) Tober; and physician assistants Laura Livergood Kaiser, Anna Grace Stoddard and Annsley Troxell at the practice.</p>
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<p>The practice has two locations: Beaufort Medical Plaza, 989 Ribaut Road, Suite 360, Beaufort; and Beaufort Memorial Okatie Medical Pavilion, 122 Okatie Center Blvd. North, Suite 300, Okatie. To make an appointment, call 843-524-8171.</p>
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