MERITORIOUS SERVICE
ECU’s top health sciences leader honored statewide for meritorious service
A senior East Carolina University leader has been honored by a state hospital organization for her outstanding service to the health care field.
Dr. Phyllis N. Horns, vice chancellor for health sciences at East Carolina, has been awarded the North Carolina Hospital Association’s 2016 Meritorious Service Award. The award is given each year to an individual who is not a CEO or trustee of an NCHA member institution.
Horns received the award Thursday, July 14 at the NCHA Summer Membership Meeting in Pinehurst.
Dr. Phyllis Horns
“Dr. Horns’ contributions have advanced excellence in patient care, education, research and beyond,” said Bill Pully, president of NCHA. “Her leadership and dedication to educating tomorrow’s health care professionals in our state and especially in eastern North Carolina make her a deserving recipient of NCHA’s 2016 Meritorious Service Award.”
ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton said of Horns’ recognition, “This honor reflects the high quality and the broad impact of Dr. Horns’ leadership in the preparation of health care professionals and in the profession overall. Our Health Sciences division has benefitted from her service and her commitment to excellence in patient care and access to health care.”
Horns has served as vice chancellor for health sciences at ECU since 2009, a responsibility that includes oversight of the Brody School of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Allied Health Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina Heart Institute, East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute, and the N.C. Agromedicine Institute. Prior to her appointment, Horns was the longest-serving dean in the history of the ECU College of Nursing, from 1990 to 2009 – a period of extensive growth for the college.
A native of eastern North Carolina, Horns earned her bachelor of science in nursing degree at ECU, masters of public health degree at UNC Chapel Hill, pediatric nurse practitioner certificate at the University of Rochester, and a PhD in nursing degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She was a staff nurse at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville (now Vidant Medical Center). She was a faculty member at ECU School of Nursing and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she served as assistant dean of undergraduate studies before returning to ECU.
During her career, Horns has been president of the Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing, Southeastern Regional Education Board; president and board member of the NC Council of Deans; and treasurer of the NC Institute of Medicine. In 2011, she was honored as the ECU College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni and inducted into the College of Nursing Hall of Fame. She was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2001, served on the National League for Nursing board of directors, chaired the NLN Accrediting Commission and chaired the NC Center for Nursing board.
About NCHA
The North Carolina Hospital Association is a trade association representing more than 130 hospitals and health systems providing acute care, rehabilitative, behavioral, psychiatric and veterans’ services. The association promotes improved delivery of quality and affordable health care in North Carolina through leadership, advocacy, information and education in its members’ interest and for public benefit.
For more information about NCHA, contact Julie Henry, vice president, communications, at 919-460-8984 or jhenry@ncha.org.
(Video by Contrast Creative)