Embracing change key to survival, Cunningham says

Drs. Virginia Hardy and Paul Cunningham share a laugh at the Jan. 18 Community Unity Breakfast. Photo by Doug Boyd

GREENVILLE, N.C.  — With challenges as well as opportunities at home and abroad, embracing change and learning from it are more important than ever, according to Dr. Paul Cunningham, dean of the Brody School of Medicine.

That was his message as he spoke at the 13th annual Community Unity Breakfast, held Jan. 18 at the Murphy Center at East Carolina University.

Cunningham noted that challenges need not be limiting — “mired but inspired,” he said. He mentioned obstacles great leaders such as Gandhi and Lincoln overcame, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose holiday was being celebrated.

“We will embrace change. There is no option,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said the Brody School of Medicine, which is dealing with the state budget crisis and rising indigent care costs, will take on “a new sense of unity, a new sense of opportunity for what we can do uniquely for our region.”

He also said the earthquake and subsequent devastation in Haiti is an example of the need for unity in overcoming challenges.

In urging the audience to work together despite their differences to find solutions to problems, Cunningham quoted Bruce the Shark from the animated film, “Finding Nemo.”

“Fish are friends, not food,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham was introduced by Dr. Virginia Hardy, vice provost at ECU and former senior associate dean of the Brody School of Medicine.