By the time Edward Murray Jr. graduated from high school, he had witnessed a lot for his 18 years — the drowning of his niece and the demise of several family members who had succumbed to substance abuse and crime.
Murray, a recent University of Maryland alumnus and current U.S. Army officer, says the memories of his childhood led to his decision to pursue a career in public health.
The 33-year-old husband and father of five children, and now a public health administration graduate student at University of Maryland University College, says education allowed him to escape his crime-ridden Baltimore neighborhood. He has earned two bachelor’s degrees, one from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the other from the University of Maryland, College Park.
“Education was my way out of the ghetto. If you get an education, that is your ticket,” says the recently promoted Army second lieutenant. “Many of the older neighborhood drug dealers would encourage me to finish school and pursue college.”
Early on Murray knew he wanted to go into the medical field. Like many African-American children during the 1980s, he was inspired by the long-running sitcom, “The Cosby Show,” and specifically by the main character, Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable, played by comedian Bill Cosby. He wanted to be an obstetrician-gynecologist just like the Cosby character.
“I took it like Bill Cosby was my father. I was one of the Cosby kids,” Murray says. “I never got to see people of color like that before.”
After vowing to become a doctor, two life-changing events intensified Murray’s desire to pursue medicine. At age 10, he witnessed the bath tub drowning of his one-year-old niece. Neither he nor the adults in his home knew CPR and there was a delay in getting emergency help.
