When a Wave Changed His Life, Dr. Bill Malcolm Found Purpose in Healing

Malcolm has built a career showing children that possibility has no limits

Dr. Bill Malcolm wheels through Duke Children's Hospital
When Dr. Bill Malcolm began his pediatrics residency at Duke University in 1998, he became the program's first medical resident to use a wheelchair. He is now a professor of pediatrics in Duke's Division of Neonatology. Photo by Travis Stanley

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When children in Dr. Bill Malcolm’s care ask why he uses a wheelchair, their parents often rush to quiet them. Malcolm, a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology at Duke, wants to change that instinct.

“They’re just being curious,” Malcolm said. “I’m not hiding the fact that I’m in a wheelchair — everyone can see it. I don’t mind if people ask, as long as it’s for the right reasons.”

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The children Malcolm cares for often have chronic medical and developmental conditions, and when he shares why he uses a wheelchair and how he’s built his medical career, he can show that the tool that aids his mobility doesn’t confine his dreams. More people should talk openly about disability, Malcolm said.

“I have this opportunity to take care of these kids who have special needs, but also are just kids,” he said. “To be able to provide a role model for what they could be in the future is about what anybody could ask for.”

When asked, Malcolm will tell young inquirers and their parents that he always wanted to be a pediatrician. Then he’ll talk about the time he went to Myrtle Beach his sophomore year at Furman University, dove into an ocean wave and sustained a spinal cord injury. The injury left him partially paralyzed from the chest down.

“I had to break my neck to get my head screwed on straight,” he will say, referring to how the accident brought a focus to his life and to pursuing a career in medicine.

Dr. Bill Malcolm
Dr. Bill Malcolm / Photo by Travis Stanley

After a year of rehab, he earned undergraduate and medical degrees. When he began his pediatrics residency at Duke University in 1998, he was the program’s first medical resident who used a wheelchair, prompting the hospital to construct an accessible call room where he could rest for extended shifts.

"I still had to do the same hours that everybody else did and the same work, but they made sure that the wheelchair wasn’t really a factor in what I learned, the training I received and the care I provided,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm doesn’t ask for exceptions if he can help it. But he’s in a unique position to understand how to better care for patients who move like him and recommends adjustments whenever possible.

When the entrance to Duke Children’s Health Center was remodeled, for instance, Malcolm proposed changes to a ramp edge he had trouble maneuvering his wheelchair over—one he observed new mothers struggling to push strollers over, too.

And when the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) redesigned its space, he suggested adding automatic doors.

“It made sense for everybody, not just me,” he said.

And if it offers another chance to make conversations about differences and inclusion easier, Malcolm embraces every moment, which is why he helped found one of the newest employee affinity groups at Duke called DICE (Disability Inclusion and Community Empowerment).

“I have this opportunity to have a special impact with kids and families dealing with chronic illness and chronic disabilities,” he said. “They can see that you can be successful no matter what your physical state.”

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