The NC Medical Board officers for the coming year begin their terms November 1. Paul S. Camnitz, of Greenville, will serve as president; Cheryl Walker-McGill, MD, of Charlotte, will serve as president-elect and, Pascal Osita Udekwu, of Raleigh, will act as secretary/treasurer. Two at-large members have also been named: Eleanor Greene, MD, of High Point, and Michael J. Arnold, a public member, from Raleigh. Together, the officers serve on the NCMB’s Executive Committee, which sets Board priorities and handles governance responsibilities. Officer terms expire October 31, 2014.
Paul S. Camnitz, MD, President
Dr. Camnitz attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both English and Chemistry. He earned his medical degree at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill and did his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the same institution, finishing in 1979.
Dr. Camnitz is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He currently practices at Eastern Carolina Ear, Nose & Throat/Head and Neck Surgery in Greenville. He is also a Clinical Professor of Surgery and Head of the Division of Otolaryngology at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, where he has been selected by the graduating medical school class as "Outstanding Teacher” 12 times and in 2003 was named a "Master Educator" by the faculty. He received the Outstanding Professor Award from the Family Medicine Department in 2004 and the Bernie Vick Outstanding Professor Award from the Department of Surgery in 2003. Dr. Camnitz has received many other honors,including the Distinguished Service Award of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, which was bestowed in 2006.
Dr. Camnitz is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of its North Carolina chapter and a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He is a member of numerous professional groups, including the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the North Carolina Medical Society, among others. Dr. Camnitz has served as chief of staff at Pitt County Memorial Hospital and has served on the boards of numerous other health care and civic organizations in Pitt County.
Dr. Camnitz was appointed to the Board in 2008.
Cheryl L. Walker-McGill, MD, MBA
Dr. Cheryl Lynn Walker-McGill earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University, and completed her residency and subspecialty training at Northwestern University, in Illinois. She received an MBA from the University of Chicago. She is board certified in internal medicine and allergy-immunology.
Previously on faculty at the Northwestern University School of Medicine and the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, Dr. Walker-McGill is currently an adjunct professor at the Wingate Graduate School of Business in Charlotte. She has significant experience in clinical medicine, quality improvement, qualitative and quantitative research, physician education, and community health education. She also is a medical director for Daimler Trucks North America, Gastonia and Mt Holly North Carolina Facilities.
Honored as a pioneer by the Duke University Baldwin Scholars Program, Dr. Walker-McGill is a recipient of the Chicago Public School System Distinguished Achievement in Asthma Education Award and the 2007 NMA Floyd J. Malveaux Award in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Dr. Walker-McGill is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). She serves on the board of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society and the Old North State Medical Society. She is chair of the Committee for the Underserved of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and she is the immediate past chair of the Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Section of the National Medical Association.
Dr. Walker-McGill has authored articles on asthma, asthma and clinical trials and she has been published in peer review journals. She is a nationally recognized speaker and she has been featured in The American Medical Association News, The New York Times and on The View.
Dr. Walker-McGill was appointed to the Board in 2011.
Pascal Osita Udekwu, MD
Dr. Udekwu has practiced at WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh since 1991. He completed residency training in pediatrics and in general surgery at the University of Chicago, a fellowship in trauma and surgical critical care at the University of Pittsburgh, PA and earned a master’s degree in business administration and health administration from Pfeiffer University in Meisenheimer, NC.
Dr. Udekwu holds multiple leadership roles including Director of Trauma, Vice Chairman of Medical Staff Quality Improvement and Director of Surgical Critical Care, all at WakeMed Health & Hospitals. He is also associate director of the Surgical Residency Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Udekwu currently serves as associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and is an adjunct professor at Campbell University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is triple-board certified with certifications from the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Surgery—Surgical Critical Care.
Dr. Udekwu has authored numerous papers and abstracts for scholarly journals and is a member of several professional organizations. He is a fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and of the American College of Chest
Physicians.
In addition, Dr. Udekwu served in the United States Army Reserve from 1988-2005 deploying to Bagram Afghanistan as Chief of Surgery in 2003. He currently serves as a Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
Dr. Udekwu was appointed to the Board in 2012.
Michael J. Arnold, MBA
Michael J. Arnold, of Wake Forest, has worked as a policy, research and public affairs professional at high levels of state government for nearly two decades, first serving nine years as a university administrator and on faculty at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and then later as a high-ranking senior official in the Executive branch of state government.
Mr. Arnold was recently appointed as Senior Advisor for Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs with Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Prior to that, Mr. Arnold served as Senior Advisor for Policy and Research with Governor Beverly Perdue. He also served in the same role during Perdue’s term as Lt. Governor.
Mr. Arnold has also worked as Senior Research Director for the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which was one of three entities created by the NC General Assembly to invest North Carolina’s portion of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Prior to that, he served in a public affairs and development role for the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education in Raleigh, one of the state’s largest health education centers. Mr. Arnold earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and a master of business administration from the same institution. He also earned a certification in Nonprofit Management, with an emphasis on communications and strategic planning from Duke University.
Mr. Arnold was appointed to the Board in 2012. He currently serves on the Federation of State Medical Boards Telemedicine Work Group.
Eleanor E. Greene, MD, MPH
Eleanor E. Greene, MD, of High Point, earned a BS degree in medical technology from the former Bowman Gray School of Medicine (now Wake Forest University School of Medicine) in Winston-Salem, NC. She received her MD and a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. She currently practices with Cone Health Medical Group at Triad Women’s Center in High Point.
Dr. Greene is a member of the North Carolina Medical Society, Doctors for America, North Carolina Obstetrics and Gynecology Society, and the National Medical Association, where she served on the Board of Directors, Finance and Health Policy Committees. She serves on the Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency. She served on the North Carolina Advisory Committee on Cancer Coordination and Control, on the Board of Directors of the Healthy Start Foundation, completing two terms on each. Dr. Greene is past president of the Old North State Medical Society, and continues to serve on its current Executive Committee. She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Greene is the first physician from High Point, NC, and the first African American female physician to serve on the NC Medical Board. She speaks on the topic of Women’s Health and Women in Medicine at numerous church and community forums. Dr. Greene recently served as moderator for a conversation on Women’s Health and the Affordable Care Act featuring the Department of Health and Human Services Director, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
