Elisabeth Baynard has been named executive director of the Brunswick County Community Wellness Coalition. She has 18 years of experience in the North Carolina public health system at the state, regional and local level, most recently with Robeson County Department of Public Health, according to a news release.

Baynard also has a decade of teaching at University of North Carolina Wilmington in the Community Health Education and Public Health Studies programs.

Through a $450,000 grant from The Duke Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas initiative, Dosher and partners Brunswick County Health Department, New Hope Clinic and YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina formed the Coalition to improve the health and wellness of county residents.

The grant allows the coalition to address physical activity, nutrition, obesity and chronic illness, such as diabetes and heart disease, according to the release.