Nineteen Pitt County residents named to group of 40 distinguished alumni from College of Allied Health Sciences

GREENVILLE, N.C.  —   Nineteen Pitt County residents are included among 40 distinguished alumni recently lauded by the East Carolina University College of Allied Health Sciences.

They were recognized Oct. 27 during the university’s homecoming at an event sponsored by the ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation.

The College of Allied Health Sciences, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, was established in 1967 as the Life Sciences and Community Health Institute. It is the largest provider of allied health professionals to the state with an enrollment of more than 700 students, of which 61 percent are at master’s and doctoral levels. There are nine departments: biostatics, clinical laboratory science, communication sciences and disorders, community health, health services and information management, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and rehabilitation studies.

From Pitt County, the department of clinical laboratory science honored Madge Chamness, retired ECU clinical laboratory science faculty member, and George Williams, clinical laboratory administrator for Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

The department of communication sciences and disorders honored: Barbara Bremer, self-employed speech language pathologist; Martha Dixon, vice president of rehabilitation and behavioral health services at PCMH; Rhonda Joyner, manager of speech language pathology and audiology for PCMH and manager of the pediatric rehabilitation program; and Marianna Walker, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at ECU and member of the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.

The department of community health honored: Pansie Hart Flood, K-12 instructional coordinator with the Pitt County Schools; Randy Michael Horton, assistant director of continuing medical education at Brody School of Medicine; and Kathy Arnold Taft, director of Communities in Schools of Pitt County.

The department of health services and information management honored Anthony Bartholomew, administrator for the Department of Surgery at BSOM, and Jean Foster, administrator of health information management services at PCMH.

The department of occupational therapy honored Wanda Bennett, administrator of outpatient rehabilitation services at PCMH, and Sharon Elliott, Therapeutic Life Center and instructor at Pitt Community College.

The department of physician assistant studies honored Marcy Cole of Orthopedics East.

The department of physical therapy honored David Edwards, vice president of clinical operations for CareWorks, and Pat Hodson, clinical associate professor of physical therapy at ECU.

The department of rehabilitation studies honored Cheryl Gentile and Jane Meads, co-owners of East Coast Counseling, and Sharon Shallow, private practice therapist and part-time intern supervisor in the department.

From Beaufort County, Denise Graham Brewster, a community health graduate, is acting coordinator of North Carolina’s arthritis program. James Holtvedt, a graduate of rehabilitation studies, owns a business specializing in home modifications for the disabled.

From Lenoir County, Tony Bright, an occupational therapy graduate, is medical services administrator at Caswell Center in Kinston.

From Wilson County, Eileen Rodri Watkins, a physical therapy graduate, is owner and president of Comprehensive Rehab of Wilson.

Elsewhere in the state and across the country, Deborah Albritton, a community health graduate, is director of Healthy Carolinians of Columbus County in Whiteville. Husband-and-wife Stas Humienny, a clinical instructor in the ECU clinical laboratory science department and computer consultant at Lenoir Memorial Hospital, and Brenda Humienny, a retired certified financial planner who works in trustee and estate planning, graduated from the clinical l