USC lost two, top administrators this week. This time it’s the top health official

After more than a year managing the University of South Carolina’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school’s top health official is leaving.

Deborah Beck, USC’s chief health officer and associate vice president of Health and Well-Being, announced earlier this week she would move to a job at a health care company in Dallas, Texas. Her last day will be June 4, she wrote in an email announcing her resignation.

“Sometimes you seek out opportunities, and other times opportunities find you,” Beck wrote. “At this point in my career I was not looking to take on a new challenge, this past year has been challenging enough, but one has found me.”

Beck, who has been at USC for more than 15 years, said her time working at USC “will forever be remembered as some of the most rewarding experiences of my life.” Perhaps Beck’s most trying moment as a USC administrator was spearheading both the internal response to the coronavirus pandemic and appearing in public town halls to provide updates on testing, quarantine, vaccinations and more, The State previously reported.

“Dr. Beck is a superstar,” USC President Bob Caslen said in a statement. “Any success that the University of South Carolina had in navigating this pandemic can be personally attributed to her leadership. We are going to miss her, but we wish her all the best in this next chapter.”

Beck, who sent her letter of resignation Tuesday, was the first of two top USC administrators to announce their departure this week. Thursday, William Tate, USC’s first Black provost, was selected to be the president of Louisiana State University.