Dr. Arthur Apolinario, or "Dr. Art" as he's affectionately called by his patients, is a board-certified family medicine physician working at the Clinton Medical Clinic, Inc. He has been active in the North Carolina Medical Society and the American Medical Association, serving as delegates to both organizations as a medical student, resident, and “Young Physician” and successfully working to pass policy relating to health care and childhood obesity as well as domestic violence. He has been president of his local county society, the Sampson County Medical Society, since 2004.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Gannon University, he went on to New Orleans, LA for his MD at Tulane. He moved to Erie, PA to serve his residency in Family Medicine at Saint Vincent Health System, and later moved on to Newton Grove, NC to join the Clinton Medical Clinic.

Ryan Bayley, MD is an executive coach and founding partner of Bayley Coaching Solutions - a physician coaching services company passionate about helping physicians and their organizations create greater vitality through intentional career design, resilience building and leadership development. In addition to evidence-based coaching for individuals and groups, Dr. Bayley speaks and runs workshops nationally on physician well-being and is a consultant for healthcare organizations looking to create environments where physicians can bring their best selves to their work.

Dr. Bayley is double-boarded in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services and currently holds an adjunct faculty position at the Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia and Cornell), and a fellowship with the Fire Department of New York. He went to medical school at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University. After he experienced burnout in his role in emergency medicine, Dr. Bayley turned to a life coach to rediscover the joy in practicing medicine. He found success in this process and now wants to share his knowledge with other physicians and medical practitioners.

Dr. Heather Davis maintains private practices in both Wilmington and Surf City; is an adjunct associate professor of UNC School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine; and serves as the chief medical officer and chief of medical staff at Pender Memorial Hospital in Burgaw, where her leadership has helped improve the quality of care significantly. In addition to those many roles, she also serves as a physician and clinical instructor with Coastal Family Medicine; and is a representative on the Quality-Safety and Strategy Committees of the Board of Trustees at both Pender Memorial Hospital and New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Dr. Davis obtained her degree in medicine in 2005 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. Following medical school, she completed her family medicine residency at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

Mike Dulin, MD, PhD is the Director of the Academy for Population Health Innovation at UNC Charlotte – a collaboration designed to advance community and population health. He is a Professor within the Carolinas Healthcare System’s Department of Family Medicine, directs a primary care practice-based research network (MAPPR), and serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Tresata Health. Dr. Dulin started his career as an Electrical Engineer and Biomedical Engineer and then received his PhD studying mechanisms of learning and memory. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, and he received his Ph.D. in Neurophysiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. His medical degree is from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his residency training at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, and he then entered private practice in Harrisburg, North Carolina where he served as a primary care physician for 3 years before returning to academics.

Dr. Dulin is a nationally recognized leader in the field of health information technology and application of analytics and outcomes research to improve care delivery and advance population health. He has led projects in this domain funded by AHRQ, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Duke Endowment, NIH and PCORI. His work has been recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal, NCHICA and Cerner. Finally, Dulin’s work to build a healthcare data and analytics team was featured by the Harvard Business School / Harvard School T.H. Chan School of Public Health as a published case study.

Dr. Dulin is a member of the American Academy of Family Practice, Society for Teachers of Family Medicine, North American Primary Care Research Group, and Alpha Omega Alpha. He is a recipient of the North Carolina Medical Society’s Community Practitioner Program; a participant in the Center for International Understanding Latino Initiative; and he was elected as one of Charlotte’s Best Doctors in 2007.

Dr. Diego Garza has been working in the medical field since 2013, specializing in the intersection between healthcare and technology. He has been working in the telemedicine field for the past seven years and has been able to develop successful programs for a number of organizations. Dr. Garza got his medical degree from el Tecnologico de Monterrey. After that, he pursued a master’s degree in public health at Gilling’s School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While pursuing his master’s degree, he was a CONACYT Scholar, a highly competitive scholarship program hosted by the National Council of Technology and Science in Mexico.

In the telemedicine field, Dr. Garza spearheaded a statewide telemedicine department in Mexico, with over 17 specialties offering services and over 40 doctors working the program. He also acted and continues to serve as one of the primary care providers for the program. After running that program and while pursuing his MPH, he became the Project Director for the NC Diabetic Retinopathy Telemedicine Network, at the Ophthalmology Department at UNC, where he was able to successfully create a program to increase access to screening services for the dialysis population in four counties in the state of North Carolina. In early 2017, Dr. Garza started working for Carolina Partners in Mental HealthCare, PLLC., the largest private behavioral health company in the nation. In his initial role as the Director of Telemedicine, he developed and implemented a telepsychiatry service that now employs over 50 providers and sees more than a 1000 patients per month, placing this program as the largest telemedicine program in the state of North Carolina. Now, he is currently acting as the Vice-president of Strategy and Clinical Innovation, where he oversees growth strategies for Carolina Partners that are directly related to increasing quality of healthcare services by using technology. His work at Carolina Partners granted him the North Carolina Health Care Hero 2018 award, given by the Triangle Business Journal to healthcare professionals that are increasing the quality of services offered to the NC population. Dr. Garza’s passion lies on increasing access to quality healthcare services for vulnerable populations.

Dr. Grubb is an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist affiliated with Vidant Health, and is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Brody School of Medicine. He served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, NC, where he cultivated a unique pain management program to minimize opioid medication use among soldiers. He’s also very active in combating the opioid epidemic statewide in North Carolina — he has educated healthcare providers as part of Project
Lazarus, and conducts safe-opioid prescribing programs on behalf of the NC Medical Board and numerous medical societies. He has also worked at a national level with the American Board of Pain Medicine to design the Safe Opioid Prescribing Examination (SOPE).

Dr. Xiaoyin “Sara” Jiang, MD, is Associate Professor of Pathology at Duke University and Associate Director of the Duke Biorepository and Precision Pathology Center (BRPC). Her areas of research and expertise are cytopathology and surgical pathology of the head and neck and endocrine systems, with particular interest in thyroid nodules, ultrasound-guided FNA, and novel applications of social media for medical professionals.

Dr. Michelle Jones is a certified family medicine physician who works at Wilmington Health with a focus in preventative medicine and the medical home model. She has been involved in the NCMS for a many years, serving on numerous committees and graduating in the 2009 Kanof Institute Leadership College class. In addition, she has served as president of the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians from 2006-2007.

Dr. Jones graduated medical school from East Carolina University in Greenville and completed her internship and residency at Duke University in Durham.

Dr. Rachel Keever is a clinical cardiologist with Asheville Cardiology Associates, a partner with the Mission Health system and has twenty years combined experience in both rural care settings and high acuity quaternary medicine. She became interested in rural medicine at the beginning of her medical training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a 1992 North Carolina Rural Health Scholar. She trained in Internal Medicine at UNC Hospitals and completed her fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases at the UNC School of Medicine.

Dr. Keever has prior certification in Internal Medicine and is board certified in Cardiovascular Diseases, Nuclear Cardiology, Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and in Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography and Stress Echocardiography. She completed the American Association of Physician Leadership program, meeting the Certifying Commission in Medical Management standards as a Certified Physician Executive. 

Dr. Keever is a past president of the Rutherford County Medical Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the state and federal Political Action Committee for the NC Medical Society (NCMS) as well as the NCMS Foundation. Dr. Keever also completed the NCMS' Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership training as a Leadership College participant and as a Health Care Leadership and Management (HCLM) Scholar, a program that she now co-chairs. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and currently serves as a councilor for the North Carolina Chapter of the ACC. 

Libby was born and raised in Winston-Salem. She attended St. Paul's School (a boarding school in New Hampshire), the University of Virginia, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and finally she completed an internship and residency program in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  

Following residency, Libby joined Wake Forest Baptist Health in 2007 and is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. She works clinically at Wake Forest Baptist Health and also spends time teaching medical students and residents. She joined the Office of Women in Medicine and Science in 2017. She was president of the Forsyth-Stokes-Davie County Medical Society from 2015-2016 and again from 2019-2020.  Career interests include work/life balance issues of being a working mother, wife and physician. For eight years she has run a women's physician group called “The WonderWomen” that has expanded to include a lecture series, work/life balance panels for medical students, book clubs related to life as a female physician and working mother, as well as other events related to diversity, inclusion, and gender issues. Libby is married to Jonathan Kelly who is also an Emergency Medicine physician. They have five kids ages 12, 10, 8 and 6 year old twins.

Dr. Ron Laney grew up in Durham, always knowing that he wanted to become a doctor. A board-certified physician in family medicine, Dr. Laney has been practicing urgent care medicine since 2011 and has also served as medical director for a local urgent care center for five years. He received his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados and trained as a family medicine resident at UNC Hospitals.

Dr. Peter Lichstein is a General Internist actively engaged in clinical care and teaching at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He received his BS and MD degrees from the University of Michigan and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of North Carolina followed by fellowship in Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester. At Wake Forest, Peter was the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director from 2003-2011. He recently directed an initiative to move hospital teaching rounds from the hallway to the bedside and currently leads the Program to Enhance Relationship-Centered Communication (PERCC). He is medical director of a General Medicine Inpatient Service at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital that promotes process improvement. Peter collaborates with the Addiction Research and Clinical Health (ARCH) team and is a faculty member for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship. Since 2015 he has served as Governor of the North Carolina Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He lives in Winston Salem with his wife, Sissy Gamble, also a general internist. They have two grown children, Paul, an orthopedic surgeon, and Jesse, who works in DC on health care policy.

Dr. Mattson has worked on program development and implementation in the NC Title V program in the NC Division of Public Health for more than 13 years. She provides pediatric medical knowledge and expertise to state agencies, local health departments, health care providers and professional organizations. Dr. Mattson has over 20 years of experience in practicing medicine in a variety of pediatric health care settings. This includes completion of medical school at the Medical College of Virginia and a pediatric internship and residency at Emory University School of Medicine. She has also provided direct care in federal and county inpatient and outpatient public health facilities, private outpatient and hospital-based practice, and a military facility. She continues to practice part time in a child health clinic in a local health department as a volunteer. Dr. Mattson has a Master’s in public health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. She has been adjunct faculty with the Department of Maternal and Child Health since 2008. Dr. Mattson has been faculty with the NCMS Leadership College since 2012 and she has served as the co-chair since 2015. She has also served on the NCMS Foundation Board for several years and now serves as President. Dr. Mattson has special interest in leadership development to help with addressing social determinants of health, patient and family-centered care.

Dr. Connette McMahon is a North Carolina native who attained her MD degree from Duke University School of Medicine and also completed her specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke. Dr. McMahon is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is trained in the full complement of the specialty, including traditional care as well as the use of cutting edge techniques.

Specific professional interest include: Care of both uncomplicated and high risk pregnancies, infertility, performance of open and laparoscopic gynecologic surgery, management of abnormal uterine bleeding and abnormal pap smears, minimally invasive incontinence procedures, evaluation and management of sexual dysfunction, incision free tubal sterilization, pediatric and adolescent gynecology, traditional hormonal therapy, and nonhormanal relief from menopausal symptoms.

Dr. Peter Morris is the executive director of Urban Ministries of Wake County, a non-denominational non-profit with broad community and volunteer support. A pediatrician who practices public health and preventive medicine, Dr. Morris believes we need to move past primary care and public health to community health, where we listen, respond, plan and work with clients, volunteers and staff and change health outcomes together.

Dr. Morris trained at UNC for medical school, pediatric residency and preventive medicine fellowship. He has an MD and MPH from Carolina and a Masters in Divinity from Duke. Dr. Morris has chaired the boards of El Pueblo, the NC Child Fatality Task Force, Action for Children, and the Wake County Medical Society Community Health Foundation, among others. He is past president of the Wake County Medical Society and the NC Pediatric Society. He has received a number of awards including the first Hands in Health award from the John Rex Endowment, the Dave Tayloe Community Pediatrics award from the NC Pediatric Society, and lifetime achievement awards from Glaxo Smith Kline/NC Public Health Association and the Triangle Business Journal.

Dr. Morris is a long time resident of Wake County, serving as medical director of Wake County Human services for over 25 years before “retiring” to Urban Ministries where he has been executive director for four years. He lives in Fuquay Varina with his wife, Sara.

Deepak Palakshappa is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Dr. Palakshappa’s research focuses on improving the health outcomes of low-income and vulnerable populations. He is particularly interested in addressing food insecurity and other social determinants of health. Deepak completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital after receiving his MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and a BS in biology and psychology from Birmingham-Southern College. He recently received a Master’s of Science in Health Policy Research from the University of Pennsylvania.

Timothy Reeder, MD, MPH earned a Medical Degree and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine from Ohio State University. He then obtained a Master Degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1998, he joined the faculty of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he is currently an Associate Professor and Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He is a past Chief of Staff of Vidant Medical Center and the current President of the North Carolina Medical Society. He has extensive experience in leadership, operations and quality improvement. In addition to his clinical and operations background, he has taught Health Systems Science topics across the educational continuum for varied health professions. He is the Director of the Health Care System Transformation and Leadership Distinction Track, a 3-year, para-curricular longitudinal program for 10 medical students a year beginning after their first year of medical school. He directs the Teachers of Quality Academy, a professional development program about quality, safety and leadership. He provides clinical care at an EM residency program which provides care at a rural, academic, Level I trauma center. His academic interests include operational enhancements, quality improvement and educating on health systems science.

MEDTalks: "PA Interests in Western NC"

MEDTalks: "Palliative Care Training for All Physicians"

MEDTalks: "Anesthesia Pain & Less Opioids"

MEDTalks: "Health Policy and Physician Engagement"

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MEDTalks: "PA Leadership Training"

MEDTalks: "Radiology and Transportation to Exams"

MEDTalks: "Employee Experience"

MEDTalks: "Teleneurology"

MEDTalks: "Patient Positioning for Pressure Ulcers"

MEDTalks: "Smoking Cessation Training"

MEDTalks: "Assessing and Facilitating Board Needs"

MEDTalks: "Teledermatology"

MEDTalks: "Scope of Practice / Population Health"

MEDTalks: "Protocol for COPD"