Despite all his other endeavors, Will Long was destined to go into podiatry.

He was on his last year of a commitment to the Coast Guard when his wife’s uncle called to ask about a pain in his foot.

“I was confused about why he was calling me, but he thought I was already in medical school,” said Long. “For years, I’d talked about going into surgery, but I couldn’t figure out what type I wanted to do.”

A week later, a brochure for a podiatry program came in the mail, and he figured someone was trying to tell him something. He started looking into podiatry schools across the country and found his match at Temple.

Long says he loves his profession because of the immediacy with which he can help his patients. “We see the whole gamut of patients at the clinic,” he said. “And they’re always so happy to see us because we can usually give them some type of relief right away, whether its medication or a brace or something else.”

Long’s journey to Temple spanned almost 10 years. After graduating from high school, he looked for ways to pay for college. The Coast Guard gave him that opportunity; in exchange for paying for his education at South Carolina State University, Long served as a marine inspector for five years.

After the attacks of September 11, he was given a new call of duty: chief of the Group/Marine Safety Office in the Charleston Maritime Homeland Security Department for the port of Charleston, S.C. He was now responsible for deploying waterside security for high visibility shipments of commercial, military and Department of Energy operations and patrolling the coastline to secure it from possible terrorist attacks.

Three years later he got that call and brochure. Today, Long says he loves Philadelphia, and will go to Penn in the fall for his surgical residency. He credits the entire podiatry faculty for guiding and supporting him.

“They’re all so humble, but they’re an incredible asset to the field of podiatry. I’ve loved my time here.”