THOMASVILLE — Dr. Daryl Crenshaw’s first patient had four legs — but barely.

Crenshaw, who will become Archbold Medical Center’s chief of staff on March 1, is the first African American to hold the position.

“I’ve always had this penchant for taking care of people,” he said. “I also had a love for taking care of animals and pets.”

When Crenshaw, a Selma, Alabama, native was 10, his first cat, Spot, fought with another cat on a weekend. One of Spot’s legs was almost severed in the feline battle.

A veterinarian told Crenshaw to keep the wounded leg clean to prevent infection. Crenshaw applied Pine-Sol to the wounded leg until Monday morning, when the veterinarian performed surgery. The household cleaner worked. There was no infection, and Spot’s leg healed.

“I kind of knew then that’s what I wanted to do,” he said.

Crenshaw said he became a nephrologist because of witnessing a number of family members on dialysis as a result of kidney disease, a malady that has afflicted many African Americans. It is a disease that prohibits people from pursuing goals and dreams, Crenshaw said.

The physician is in practice at Georgia Kidney and Hypertension Clinic in Thomasville. 

He received a medical degree from Tulane University, completed further studies in internal medicine at the University of Alabama and trained in nephrology at Emory University.

Crenshaw has been a dialysis unit medical director for Archbold Dialysis Services and DaVita Kidney Care, as well as Colquitt Regional Dialysis Center in Moultrie.

A member of the Archbold COVID-19 Task Force, Crenshaw is clinical professor of medicine at Florida State University and at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Moultrie.

He has authored papers published in scientific journals, including a piece about acute renal failure after fire ant bites.

He and his wife, Dr. Brittany Crenshaw, met in Thomasville and married seven years ago. She practices internal medicine at Albany Area Primary Care and is involved in telemedicine.

Crenshaw’s mother, Bennie Crenshaw, is a retired educator, who participated in the Selma Freedom March in 1965. His father, Danny Crenshaw, practices law in Selma.

The 47-year-old physician’s siblings include a sister, Shayla McCray, who practices law with her father and is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Alabama. A brother, Leslie Davis, is a beer company executive in Montgomery, Alabama.

As Archbold chief of staff, Crenshaw will oversee governance of physicians, ensuring they are operating in full capacity as qualifying physicians.

His goal is to align various hospital departments to enable leadership success, to serve as a strategic advisor to physicians and to serve as liaison between hospital administration and medical staff.

“I consider my profession as a nephrologist a ministry to people who are very ill. This also includes the fact that I pray for them at various places and times, including in the hospital,” Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw has given thought to what his hospital position means to the African American community.

“Given the economic and health care disparities within the African American community, as chief of staff, I indeed feel some incumbency to be a positive influence for them, particularly within the health care spectrum,” he said.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820