Johnnie Byrd, Jr. earns medical degree

Johnnie Lee Byrd, Jr. graduated with a degree of doctor of medicine (MD) on June 12, 2010, from the Pritzer School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. The graduation ceremony took place on the campus of the university at 11 a.m. Several family members and friends were in attendance to witness this glorious event.

Johnnie is the son of Betty (Byrd) Watts, stepson of Walter Watts, of Brewton, Ala., son of Johnnie Lee Byrd, Sr. of Grove Hill, Ala., grandson of the late Bennie Lee and Joseph McMillan, Sr., nephew of Wesley McMillan, grand-nephew of the late Marie Rochelle, grand-cousin Essie Mae Giddins, and nephew of Harold Byrd, all of Apalachicola.

In 2008, Johnnie received his doctor of philosophy degree (PhD) from the University of Chicago. He is a 1998 graduate of Morehouse College, in Atlanta, with a bachelor’s of science in biology, and a member of T.R. Miller High School’s class of 1994, in Brewton, Ala.

Johnnie will continue to reside with his wife, Rikkisha, and three children in Chicago, where he will begin his residency at the University of Chicago Medical Center and Northshore University Healthsystem, specializing in family medicine.