On Friday evening, Oct. 23, Docia E. Hickey, MD, from Belmont, NC, was sworn in as the North Carolina Medical Society’s (NCMS) 162nd president at the Society’s Annual Meeting at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC.
Dr. Hickey is a neonatologist, recently retired from Carolinas HealthCare System where she spent the bulk of her career. She has been a member of the NCMS since 1980, and has been in leadership roles on a variety of NCMS committees and task forces over the years. As a member of the Society’s Board of Directors since 2005, her positions included vice speaker and speaker, and, most recently president-elect. She also has served as president of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society, the North Carolina Perinatal Association, as a member of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force and on the boards of a variety of non-profit organizations including the Holy Angels Foundation, which serves the needs of intellectually and developmentally disabled children and adults.
“Next year we will still have a fight before us on Medicaid,” Dr. Hickey said in her inauguration remarks. “Reform has been enacted by our legislature, but the details and regulations still need to be defined. We must be vigilant and continue to fight for protections for our patients and ourselves as providers.”
Dr. Hickey earned her undergraduate degree form Emory University after which she returned to her native North Carolina to earn her MD at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University. Outside of her two years as a fellow in neonatology at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Hickey was an intern and resident and spent her career at Charlotte Memorial Hospital, now Carolinas Health Center. She also has been a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Outgoing NCMS President Robert E. Schaaf, MD, FACR, swore in Dr. Hickey and noted in his remarks: “With her years of leadership experience in organized medicine, her deep knowledge of the North Carolina Medical Society and her calm, yet firm presence, Dr. Hickey will be a strong advocate for our profession during her tenure as NCMS president.”
Congratulations Dr. Hickey!
