Dr. Bill and Carole West to receive Award of Excellence at MC’s Bicentennial Homecoming
Dr. Bill and Carole West have made a lasting impact on Mississippi Christian University (MC) through their generosity and support of the Institute for Southern Storytelling, expanding opportunities to highlight the South’s culture and creativity.
On Saturday, Oct. 31, the Wests will return to MC to receive the 2026 Award of Excellence during the annual National Alumni Association Awards Brunch as part of MC’s Bicentennial Homecoming. The brunch is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Anderson Hall on the second floor of the B.C. Rogers Student Center.
The Award of Excellence honors men and women who have rendered distinguished service to MC and worked with marked intelligence and success to promote the highest interests of the University.
The Wests have supported several charitable initiatives throughout the Deep South. They weren’t familiar with MC when Anthony Thaxton, cofounder of the Institute for Southern Storytelling at MC, gave the couple an impromptu tour of MC’s East Campus in Clinton a few years ago and shared his vision for the institute.
Not long afterward, the Wests presented a generous gift to MC that made the Institute for Southern Storytelling a reality.
“We wanted to extend MC’s reach,” Bill West said of the couple’s support for the Institute. “I think MC is a jewel, and it was a thrill to come down and see it.”
“We believed in Anthony, and we believe we need more Anthonys,” Carole West said, noting that the Institute prioritized including students in its work, which was an important factor in the couple’s decision to provide support.
Thaxton said he could think of no other couple more deserving of the award than the Wests.
“Bill and Carole West believed in us from the start,” he said. “Their encouragement and financial support have been the backbone of everything we’ve been able to do. Their support made everyone at MC realize that the Institute for Southern Storytelling is something special, a place where people want to get involved.”
Longtime residents of Memphis, the Wests have distinguished themselves through careers in healthcare and education, as well as through their philanthropy. Bill, a nationally respected oncologist, graduated from Harvard University and trained at Johns Hopkins and the National Cancer Institute. Carole, a graduate of the University of Alabama, is a former elementary school teacher.
Inspired by his mother’s battle with breast cancer, Bill founded the West Cancer Center and Research Institute in 1979. Carole was involved from the start, serving as the practice’s first secretary. The center began in a rented office with Bill, Carole and one nurse, before growing into one of the Southeast’s largest cancer treatment and research organizations.
During his career, Bill served as principal investigator of a pivotal study that led to the approval of the first immunotherapy drug for cancer. He pioneered the use of peripheral blood stem cells to reduce the risks and costs of intensive chemotherapy. His research led to a groundbreaking kidney cancer drug he helped bring to market. In the late 1980s, he founded Response Oncology to develop cancer treatment protocols.
Bill retired from the West Clinic and established a national Stem Cell Centers network that improved bone marrow transplant outcomes. Beyond his work in oncology, he has advanced preventive care through The Prevention Group, Lifesigns and HealthyHere. He also launched a meal program, MealMD, to help individual patients fight insulin resistance.
Carole is the youngest daughter of Kemmons Wilson, the Memphis entrepreneur who founded Holiday Inn in 1952. She and Bill have continued her family’s longstanding commitment to philanthropy through their support of educational, healthcare and faith-based organizations.
Bill has served as chair of the campaign for an Alzheimer’s day care service known as “Dorothy’s Place” and has served on the Church Health Center Board. Bill is also the author of “Sacred Science: Understanding Divine Creation.”
The couple is involved in the Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation and supports several organizations, including Christ United Methodist Church, United Theological Seminary in Ohio and the West Cancer Foundation.
“We are fortunate to be able to call Bill and Carole West friends and supporters of MC,” said MC President Blake Thompson. “They have been a blessing not only to the Institute for Southern Storytelling but to the entire MC family. We are grateful for the energy, friendship and support they provide to our programs and our students.”
“The Wests are an amazing part of all we are doing at the Institute for Southern Storytelling and in the Gore Galleries,” Thaxton said. “Their Sunday school class in Memphis has used some of my video teachings, and I’ve visited in person speaking. In turn, they came as a class from Memphis to tour our Walter Anderson exhibition.
“They love what we are doing at MC through the Institute, and I love that they get to be intimately involved.”
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