This year, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Health Care Heroes Awards will be held Nov. 15 at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Burney Center.

On that night, the health care providers, innovators and volunteers you’ll read about on the following pages take the spotlight.

Finalists for this year’s awards will be honored at the awards event. Winners will be announced, and a special lifetime achievement honor will be bestowed.

They are this year’s Health Care Heroes, nominated by patients, peers, co-workers and families.

Many of their nominations painted pictures of heroes who not only conquer the big challenges when it comes to patient care but also pay attention to the little things that can make a big difference.

Included in this year’s awards special section are the finalists in eight categories: Community Achievement, Health Care Executive, Innovation in Health Care, PA/NP, Nurse, Physician, Volunteer and the Unsung Hero category, recognizing anyone who works in health care but not necessarily fitting the other traditional award descriptions.

A panel of judges focused on some fundamental questions when considering the nominees: Do they go above and beyond in their daily work? Have they contributed an idea or formed an organization that impacts the community? Are they heroic – whether in big, life-saving ways or quiet, everyday ways?

In many cases, the standouts were clear. In others, the choices were tough.

In the November issue and through the links below, you can read more about the health care providers, administrators and community volunteers in their nominators’ own words.

Also on Nov. 15, Linda Calhoun, a Wilmington cardiologist with the Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute, will be honored as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award.

The Business Journal has put on the Health Care Heroes awards program since 2013 to honor the people and organizations making an impact on the quality of health care in the region.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of this year’s Health Care Heroes Awards.

INFO: WilmingtonHCHeroes.com

-Cece Nunn
Managing Editor
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
[email protected]

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About the Judging

Each year, the Business Journal opens up the nomination process to the community for the Health Care Heroes Awards.

Our outside judging panel combs through the nominations and applications to pick the finalists and winners in each of the categories as well as the Lifetime Achievement honor.

Judges who know or work with the nominees disclosed any potential conflicts. In the cases in which judges were nominated in a category, they were recused from the deliberation process.


VICTORIA BELLAMY, Novant Health

MISSY COMBS, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare

JAMES MCCABE, New Hanover-Pender County Medical Society

JIM HUNDLEY, Retired Physician

ALEXIS HUNTER, Wilmington Health

MICHAEL PAWLIKOWSKI, TeamLogic IT

DANIEL THOMPSON, Well Care Health

JACK WATSON, UNCW College of Health & Human Services

NATALIE ENGLISH, Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce
 

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Meet the 2025 Health Care Heroes finalists:

Community Achievement:

• Nicholas Green, Clinical Administrator, Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinics at the Coast
• NC Health Talent Alliance, SEAHEC Region, Amy Akers, Umar Bowers, & Steven Hill
• Susannah Spratt, Mobile Market Manager, Feast Down East

Health Care Executive: 

• Melody Dawkins, COO, Coastal Cardiovascular Associates
• Terry McDowell, Senior Director, Primary Care, Novant Health Coastal Region
• Brad Nelson, Director of Ancillary Services, Wilmington Health

Innovation: 

• Kathleen C. Leone, Board-Certified Ophthalmic Surgeon, Wilmington Eye
• Devin Lessard, Physical Therapy Assistant, Fyzical Therapy & Balance Centers
• AJ Trelease, Founder & CEO, CareHome Health

Lifetime Achievement: 

• Linda Calhoun, Cardiologist, Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute

Unsung Hero: 

• Megan Clarke, Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner, Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute
• Michael Joyner, Building Operations Courier, Wilmington Health
• Jack Morris, Outreach Coordinator, Wilmington Downtown Inc./Block by Block

NP/PA:

• Graham Brown, PA-C, Internal Medicine, Wilmington Health
• Tami Martin, PA-C, Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute
• Michael Pinto, FNP-C, Outpatient Palliative Care, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare

Nurse: 

• Jana Cavenaugh, Opioid Treatment Program Nurse-RN, Coastal Horizons
• Sara Evans, Cardio-Oncology Nurse Coordinator, Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute
• Jan Pahl, Manager of Hemodialysis and VAT, Novant Health NHRMC

Physician:

• Lora Pacaldo, Clinical Physician Executive/Psychiatrist, Novant Health
• Hoke Pollock, MD, Hanover Pediatrics
• Danille Prime, MD, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Wilmington Health

Volunteer:

• Sylvia Stoudemire & Bonnie Burriss, Volunteers, Novant Health NHRMC
• Kathleen Rankhorn, Volunteer, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare
• Chris & Jackie Smith, Volunteers, Novant Health Pender Medical Center