October 22, 2025
On Oct. 8, three NCAFP members received the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation (FHLI) Community Impact Award: past NCAFP president and current AAFP Board member Dr. Shannon Dowler, Dr. Steve North, and Dr. C.J. Atkinson! In addition, long-time friend of Family Medicine and former dean at the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine Dr. Paul Cunningham received the Jim Bernstein Community Health Career Achievement Award.
The FHLI Community Impact Award recognizes those who show extraordinary leadership and commitment to support their communities, and all three of these family physicians have done exactly that across the many different roles where they’ve served in their careers. But they were honored for specific work they did during Hurricane Helene in Fall 2024.
Beyond a varied clinical career, Dr. Dowler is a national expert in public health and sexual health education. She currently serves as the acting Chief Medical Officer at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. She previously served as Chief Medical Officer at NC Medicaid, And in October 2024, Dr. Dowler became an instrumental leader in helping her community respond to Hurricane Helene. She helped set up a local generator, first aid center, and emergency supply stations and ran their operations for weeks after Helene hit. She also helped keep her sister’s local restaurant open for weeks to feed travelers stranded during the floods. “There are no limits to the lengths people will go to support each other,” Dr. Dowler later wrote of her experience. “Giving people permission to take supplies to neighbors in need meant they could contribute to the response and extend the great big hug the rest of the country offered to western North Carolina.”
Likewise, Dr. North has made service the keystone of his career, especially in Mitchell County where he lives. He currently serves as the medical director at the Mountain Community Health Partnership in Bakersville, after he had practiced in rural health clinics in the area for 15 years. His other care for the community includes the Health-e-Schools telemedicine program that Dr. North founded and has helped bring into 130 schools. But like Dr. Dowler, Dr. North stepped up to care for his community in new ways last fall: he and his wife, Amanda, coordinated the medical supplies and volunteers that helped chronic and at-risk patients continue to receive care after Hurricane Helene. According to a FHLI statement, “Together, the Norths helped turn Burnsville into a free clinic for six months, provided care in remote communities, and offered stability for those living through chaos.”
Dr. Atkinson is the Deputy Chief Physician Executive at Novant Health, and during Hurricane Helene he made the most of his leadership role: he organized teams that sheltered evacuated patients and helped execute search-and-rescue operations via helicopter to find missing people in impacted areas. His operations included a last-minute airlift of a pregnant mother who then safely delivered her daughter thanks to Dr. Atkinson’s help, according to Novant Health. Dr. Atkinson had come into his position ready to respond effectively to emergencies like Helene: he had become a family physician like his father, but only after serving the U.S. Army for over 12 years.
These remarkable physician leaders received their awards during the 2025 Annual Bernstein Event at the UNC Friday Center in Chapel Hill on Oct. 8. Congratulations to each of them!
The North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, Inc. (NCAFP) is a nonprofit professional association headquartered in Raleigh which represents over 4,300 family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students across the state. It is the largest medical specialty association in North Carolina and is a constituent chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, based in Leadwood, KS.
