The South Dakotan M.D. is the story hub of the USD Sanford School of Medicine. Here you’ll find stories and news highlighting the meaningful contributions of our students, faculty and staff, and alumni.
Service & Advocacy
A Duty to Dignity: An Insider Look at South Dakota’s Midwest Street Medicine Program
The Latest
Jul 21, 2026
The Mental Game: Building Connection and Confidence in Rapid City Youth
For many children at Children’s Home Society in Rapid City, days spent playing games with mentors from the Sanford School of Medicine offer more than just fun—they provide consistency, encouragement and trusted relationships with caring adults.
Jul 20, 2026
Sowing Solidarity: How FARM Students Are Giving Back Through Community Projects
In the town of Parkston, South Dakota—where you’re just as likely to run into a patient in the grocery store as in the clinic—Dr. Jason Wickersham, associate dean of rural medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, splits his time between his family medicine practice and the students of the Frontier And Rural Medicine (FARM) program.
Jul 20, 2026
Coyote Clinic Celebrates 20 Years of Service and Professional Training
What began in 2006 as a small group of students holding a monthly clinic night has evolved into a well-known Sioux Falls resource that operates entirely with volunteers.
Jul 20, 2026
A Reflection on the Rural Rotation
The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine's longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) allows students to build strong bonds with their physicians over the course of a year rather than rotating through short, multi-week rotations. One exception to the LIC is the three-week-long rural family medicine rotation.
Alumni
Dr. Tom Hermann Takes Nontraditional Route Into Medicine
Here are two pictures to spark your imagination: the first is a college-aged man dressed in stereotypical 1970s garb, passionately debating his classmates on the moral validity of the Vietnam War. The only thing longer than his hair and his discourse is his beard. After a successful debate, he stands and tells his intellectual opponents that he must go; there is a yoga class at 4 p.m. and he has a date with the ski slope to follow.
First Native American USD Medical School Graduate Sophie Two Hawk Deeply Rooted in Healing
Family matriarch Dr. Sophie Two Hawk ’87 was always certain her life’s path would lead her to be a healer, coming from several generations of holistic healers with a firm footing in whole-person health care.
The View of a Lifetime Inspires
Dr. Jacob Weasel, general surgeon at Monument Health in Rapid City, South Dakota, shares what he believes is the common thread between adventurer and healer.
More Headlines
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Charity Starts At Home
Summary: American novelist Thomas Wolfe articulated in the 1940s that “you can never go home again”—implying that after life experiences have changed you, returning to the place where your life started will never feel quite the same as it once did.
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The Physician Who Never Stopped Learning
Summary: Dr. Marc Dvoracek, associate professor in the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, is no stranger to change.
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Finding the Art in Medicine
Summary: Chai does not make things easy. Dr. Judith Peterson’s artistic muse, an eight-year-old, long-haired cat, has inspired much of her work, especially the Power Grid Cat series.
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Advancing Care, Shaping Futures: Mentorship and Medicine With Dr. John Lee
Summary: In medicine, there are physicians who follow a path and those who build one. Dr. John Lee, an otolaryngologist at Avera St. Mary’s and clinical professor at the Sanford School of Medicine, has spent his career building paths for others to follow.
Guest Column
Guest Column | Lizz & Robbie Nicholas
Elizabeth (Hoffman) Nicholas, a Eureka, South Dakota native, and Robert Nicholas, a Huron, South Dakota native, met at the University of South Dakota when they were both in the Alumni Student Scholars Program, each with the dream of becoming a doctor.
