UNC Health Lenoir Celebrates Doctor’s Day 2025
UNC Health Lenoir honors community physicians annually on March 30, National Doctor’s Day. This celebration recognizes the contributions physicians make every day to the health and welfare of our community with an annual breakfast and recognition of milestones achieved through service to patients and families.
The annual celebration at UNC Health Lenoir includes the recognition of physicians reaching their twenty fifth year of service to the organization, with membership in the Quarter Century Club. This year, Dr. Nawaf Atassi, Nephrologist and Dr. Ambrose Okonkwo, Family Physician are being honored for reaching this milestone.
Dr. Okonkwo came to Kinston in 1999 to join Kinston Community Health Center providing primary care services to the community. He has continued to provide this service under Hope Physicians & Urgent Care since 2007. He has served as the Medical Director of Kinston Community Health Center and as the Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at UNC Health Lenoir. Dr. Okonkwo is also part of the UNC Health Lenoir Neonatal care team providing newborn care to the community.
Dr. Atassi accepted a job at Eastern Nephrology Associates in Kinston in 1999. While at Lenoir, Dr. Atassi has served as Chief of the Department of Medicine, President of the Medical Staff, and served on numerous other hospital executive committees. He has also been the Medical Director of Kinston Dialysis Unit for 25 years.
In addition to the Quarter Century awards, UNC Health Lenoir recognized two retiring physicians.
Dr. Robert Hosea, Otolaryngologist joined Kinston Head and Neck Physicians in 1978 and has recently retired with 47 years of service to the community. Dr. Hosea has enjoyed providing medical and surgical services to patients including being the first physician to perform a bone-implantable conduction hearing device. He attributes his success to his many wonderful physician and nursing colleagues over the years. Dr. Hosea’s optimism regarding medical care in the community is reflected in the scholarship he is funding for a student of nursing at Lenoir Community College.
Dr. Robert Gallaher came to Kinston in 1989 and practiced pulmonology and sleep medicine for 35 years. He first joined Kinston Medical Specialists and eventually opened his own practice which became UNC Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at Lenoir. Dr. Gallaher is recognized for his remarkable expertise and care during the Covid Pandemic. He was also instrumental in converting Lenoir Memorial Hospital into a smoke free campus and led the efforts in establishing the McDaniel Sleep Center, an accredited, certified sleep lab at UNC Health Lenoir. Dr. Gallaher describes himself as truly blessed with family, friends, and opportunities.
“The physicians at UNC Health Lenoir are celebrated on Doctor’s Day with gratitude from our team for their tireless dedication to their patients and to the community. Their compassion and expertise make a huge difference in the lives of the people they serve every day,” stated Dr. Crystal Hayden, President and CEO at UNC Health Lenoir.
On March 30, please join the team at UNC Health Lenoir in recognizing the wonderful physicians in our community and thanking them for all they do for their patients and the people of Kinston, Lenoir, and surrounding counties.
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