The NC Medical Board elected officers for the coming year at the July meeting of the Board. Officers begin their terms November 1. Pascal Osita Udekwu, MD, of Raleigh, will serve as Board President; Eleanor Greene, MD, of High Point will serve as President-elect and Timothy E. Lietz, MD of Charlotte, will act as Secretary/Treasurer. Michael J. Arnold, a public member from Raleigh, was elected as an at-large member of the Executive Committee, which sets Board priorities and handles governance responsibilities. Outgoing Board President Cheryl Lynn Walker-McGill, MD, will continue to serve on the Executive Committee as Immediate Past President of the Board. Officer terms end on October 31, 2016.
Board President, Pascal Osita Udekwu, MD, MBA/MHA
Dr. Udekwu has practiced at WakeMed Health & Hospitals in North Carolina 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 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. He is also Associate Director of the Surgical Residency Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Udekwu currently serves as a professor at UNC-CH 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 ofboth 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 November 2012. He currently chairs the Licensing Committee and serves on the Executive and Policy Committees.
President-elect, Eleanor E. Greene, MD, MPH
Dr. Greene, of High Point, is an OB/GYN who practices in High Point. Dr. Greene earned a BS degree in medical technology from the former Bowman Gray School of Medicine (now Wake Forest University School of Medicine). 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.
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.
Dr. Greene was appointed to the Board in November 2012. She currently serves on the Disciplinary and Executive Committees of the Board, and on the Board of Directors of the NC Physicians Health Program.
Secretary/Treasurer, Timothy E. Lietz, MD
Dr. Lietz currently practices emergency medicine in Charlotte with Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates, where he serves on the Board is also President and CEO. In addition to treating patients in the emergency department, he is co-chair of the Novant Health Emergency Department Shared Governance Council and serves as Medical Director for Novant Health Event Medicine.
Dr. Lietz earned his medical degree from the Ohio State University School of Medicine. He completed an internship with the Eastern Virginia Medical School Department of Internal Medicine and residency training with the same institution’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Lietz is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is board-certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He is a member the North Carolina College of Emergency Physicians and the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Lietz was appointed to the Board in November 2013. He currently chairs the Board’s Disciplinary Committee and serves on the Executive and Policy Committees.
At-large member, Michael J. Arnold, MBA
Mr. Arnold, of Wake Forest, has worked as a policy, research and public affairs professional at high levels of state government for more than two decades. He served nine years as a university administrator and on faculty at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and then later as a highranking senior official in the Executive branch of state government.
Mr. Arnold serves as Senior Advisor for Policy & Government Relations with Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Terry Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Prior to that, Mr. Arnold served as Senior Advisor for Policy and Research to the Governor and Lt. Governor’s Office.
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 as a public member in November 2012. He currently chairs the Board’s Policy Committee and serves on the Disciplinary and Executive Committees. he represented the Board and helped draft national guidelines on the Federation of State Medical Board’s Telemedicine Workgroup.