Emerging Champions of Change in North Carolina Medicine was a statewide competition corresponding to the upcoming national broadcast program Remaking American Medicine which is slated to air in September. To parallel the profiles in the national series, UNC-TV, NC AHEC Program, NC Institute of Medicine and Healthy Carolinians decided to launch a statewide search for those making the difference in North Carolina's healthcare. We wanted to know who are these individuals, or organizations, in North Carolina, that are implementing innovative, patient-centered models of care or community health initiatives? The winners were selected by the Board of the Institute of Medicine.

The criteria were:

• The individual or project is innovative and emerging
• Informed patients are empowered to take more control over their health care decisions through the efforts of this individual or projects
• The approaches to improvement/change are creative, sustainable and replicable
• The individuality, values and culture of the patients are respected.

Although all the nominees were outstanding, there were several projects submitted that the judges felt did not fit well into some of the selection criteria, because they were not involved in patient care.

The winners selected in the individual category are:

• Alan Dobson, M.D. for his work developing the Community Care of North Carolina.
• Karen Smith, M.D., a Physician in Raeford for extensive use of medical records in an individual practice.
• Tom Irons, M.D. who helped create Health Assist in Pitt County.
• George Bond, MPH, Health Director, Buncombe County who helped create Project Access.
• The Organizational Nominees selected are:
  Being Healthy Counts – Faith-based initiative in Alamance County
• Mission Hospital’s Toothbus – Buncombe County
• Columbus County Drops a Ton – Healthy Carolinian community wide effort to improve health in Columbus County.
• Mitchell County School & Family Health – School based primary care services extended to the fully community in Mitchell County.
• Pitt County Pediatric Asthma- a comprehensive asthma reduction strategy at ECU.
• New Hanover Palliative Care – a palliative care collaborative in the Southeast part of the state.
• Duke Prospective Health - an employer based initiative that combines health risk assessment with medical care and chronic disease management.

The Selection Process...