History of the DCRI

The Darby Children’s Research Institute (DCRI) bears the name of its late founder, Dr. Charles P. Darby, Jr. He became Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at MUSC in 1982 and recognized the need for better pediatric healthcare in South Carolina. Dr. Darby then began a campaign with MUSC leadership and state legislators to build a children’s hospital. His dream became a reality in 1987 after 15 years of planning and perseverance. Under his leadership as Chair and Pediatrician-in-Chief of MUSC, Darby increased the number of faculty from 12 to 80 during his tenure and directly led to a ranking among the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country.

He was also pivotal in the creation of MUSC’s newest Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion that opened in 2020. Darby recognized that all top ranked children’s hospitals achieve their stature based not only on the outstanding clinical care to their patients, but also to the outstanding research that supports the next breakthrough discoveries to enhance that clinical care. With this recognition, he began envisioning the building of a research enterprise; created to serve as the research arm of the children’s hospital. He started another campaign with MUSC officials and state legislators to fund the construction of six floors of modern physical laboratory space that would house both basic scientists and physician scientists working to meet the research needs of the children in South Carolina. That vision was realized with the opening of the Darby Children's Research Institute in 2007.