Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / June 2, 2016, edition 1 / Page 3
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Former state health director to head Reynolds Trust BY TODD LUCK Laura Gerald, a pediatrician and for mer state health director, will become the new president of Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in July. The trust is a statewide foundation that awards millions in grants annually to improve health and quality of life for the financially disadvantaged in North Carolina. In 2015, Trust President Karen . McNeil Miller left and Allen Smart, vice president of program services, has been acting as interim president. Gerald said that she was drawn to the Trust partly because of its emphasis on helping rural communities and children.. "The match in my background and pas sions with the work that Kate B. Reynolds is doing is very compelling," she said. Gerald brings many years of experi ence to the position. She's from Lumberton, which is in a rural part of the state. "I had a very supportive childhood, a very engaged and supportive family and community," she said. Her father died when she was young, leaving her mother - who was a teacher - to raise four children. She attended college at Harvard University, something she knew was possible because two of her brothers attended Harvard. She earned a degree in I biology in 1990 and, along the way, discov ered she wanted to be a doctor, so she then attended Johns Hnnlcins lTniv#?rsitv , -?? ' School of Medicine. During her pediatric residency, she was surprised to see Lumberton listed as an underserved area without enough doctors. So. she returned to Lumberton in 1998 to join the clinic of her childhood pediatri cian, who became her mentor. When he passed away, she took over the administra tive duties at the clinic. "Practicing medicine in Lumberton was a wonderful experience," she said. "Every patient was a cousin until geneti cally proven not to be a cousin." In 2002, she received a Master of Public Health from Harvard and became a senior medical consultant for Community Care of North Carolina, a primary care medical. home program for Medicaid recipients. She developed statewide initia tives dealing with diseases like asthma. She said it let her have a wider impact than ] she could by seeing one patient at a time. , "You could be far more impactful by , working outside of the wails of the clinic and seeing what you can do to help the community at large," she said. In 2010, Gerald became executive director of the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which allocated some of the funds from the state's share of 1 the national tobacco settlement. It awarded $30 million in grants annually to programs that Gerald says have resulted in historical ly low rates of teen tobacco use in the state. In 2011, she became senior advisor for Community Care of North Carolina under the Department of Health and Human Services. The next year, she was appointed to be state health director under Governor Beverly Purdue and Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler. She ran the Public Health Division, with an $800 million budget and 800 employees. She also worked with health directors across the state to improve health outcomes, par ticularly for underserved populations. She said it was challenging work, but that there were improvements in HIV/AIDS preven tion and infant mortality during her time as director. "When you're trying to do work that helps the most challenged people, you're always going to be working iq a tough environment, in an uphill battle,"1 she said. She resigned from the position in 2013, under the current administration. A copy of her resignation letter obtained by N.C. Policy Watch said she resigned because of significant differences and disagreements over policy and administrative directions in the Health and Human Services Department. Gerald, a separated mother of two chil dren, currently serves as the market med ical director of Evolent Health in Raleigh. "Dr. Gerald is an outstanding leader who is an expert in health cart improve ment, as well as a North Carolina native who understands firsthand the challenges facing rural areas," said Beth Renner, who is senior vice president and national direc tor of Philanthropic Services at Wells Fargo Bank, which is trustee of the founda tion. "She has an outstanding statewide and national reputation for integrity and excellence, and we are honored to appoint her as the next president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust." Gerald Street closings to cause traffic slow down, detours SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Utility work and street repairs in the following areas will cause traffic slow down and detours throughout the city: ?Fifth Street, between Cherry and Marshall streets, will be closed from 1 to 9:30 p.m. today, Thursday, June 2, and from 8:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Friday, June 3, to accom modate the North Carolinians for Home Education Annual Conference being held at the Benton Convention Center. Exhibits normally set up in the lower level of the convention center, which is closed for renova tions, will be set up in the Embassy Suites lobby. This will result in higher than normal foot traffic between the convention center and the hotel. This block of Fifth Street will also be closed as needed between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, June 4. ??"Portions of Sixth, Liberty and Trade streets will be closed from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday, June 3, for the monthly Gallery Hop. ?Fourth Street will be closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 4, between Spring and Marshall streets for the Salute! wine festival. Also closed will be Spruce Street between Holly and Fifth streets, and Poplar Street between Holly and 4Vi streets. Detours will be posted. ?Cloister Drive, between Konnoak Drive and Wood vale Avenue, will be closed to through traffic today, June 2, to replace a diain pipe that passes under the street. Work is expected to be completed and the street reopened by the afternoon of June 7, weather permit ting. A detour will be post ed. *New Hope Lane between Cleveland Avenue and North Liberty Street will remain closed to through traffic through June 3. A detour is posted. ?"Work will be taking place at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and 23rd Street, and on Gray Avenue on either side of 18th Street, but these areas will not be closed. Traffic may be controlled by a flagger at times. ?Utilities is repairing or replacing aging water and sewer lines in the neighborhoods in the 21st Street basin. The project area is bordered by Liberty Street and U.S. 52 to the west, 25th Street to the north, 14th Street to the south and Attucks Street and Bowen Boulevard to the east. ?The following streets in Ardmore will be closed to through traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through June 3: Melrose Street will be closed between Westover Drive and Hawthorne Road. Maple wood Avenue will be closed between Melrose and Coventry streets. Hoyt Street will be closed between Ford and Colling wood streets. Detours will be posted for all street closures. ?Utilities is repairing or replacing aging water and sewer lines in the neighborhoods in an area called Ardmore Basin 1. The project area is between Westover Drive, Miller and Magnolia streets and Hawthorne Road. It also includes portions of Walker and Jefferson avenues and Hoyt, Colling wood, Ford and Bellview streets. ?North Stratford Road, between Runnymede Road and Reynolda Road, is scheduled to be repaved beginning on Friday, June 3. During these operations, traffic will be controlled by a flagger. Motorists should expect delays or take an alternate route. Information about the project, including a map of the project area, is posted a t www.Utilities.CityofWS.or g. For more information call City Link 311. z^treeK XCLOSED/ V t' ' jfe $?jr r "h^-^ | '* Ilw^ys to brighten ? w ^^7 W ^ A War u a a Publix W H C ft E S H O ft ft I N 0 IS A ftLEASUftE*
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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June 2, 2016, edition 1
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