Administration
Dean
Michael Waldrum, MD, MSc, MBA
Dr. Michael Waldrum was appointed dean of the Brody School of Medicine in July 2021. He was named chief executive officer of what is now ECU Health in June 2015. Before coming to eastern North Carolina, he served as the president and chief executive officer of The University of Arizona Health Network. Previously, he was the CEO of the University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham (UAB) and vice president of UAB Health where earlier he was chief operating officer and chief information officer. Waldrum is a specialist in critical care medicine and pulmonology and is trained in internal medicine.
Waldrum is the 2025-2026 chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is a past chair of the Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems.
He is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, received a master’s degree in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health and earned his MBA from the University of Michigan.
Waldrum and his wife Susan have four children and five grandchildren.
Executive Dean
Jason Higginson, MD, MA, FAAP
Dr. Jason Higginson was named executive dean of the Brody School of Medicine in June 2021. He received his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, completed his general pediatrics training at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland and went on to finish a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the National Capitol Consortium and National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He has a master’s degree in bioethics and health policy from Loyola University in Chicago and graduated with distinction from the Naval War College command and staff program in Newport, Rhode Island.
Higginson is a past chair of the pediatrics department here, pediatrician-in-chief of Maynard Children’s Hospital, chief of neonatology and medical director for the neonatal intensive care unit and newborn medicine at ECU Health.
Higginson has had a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy and holds the rank of captain. He and his wife, associate dean Dr. Amanda Higginson, have two children.
Executive Vice Dean, Brody School of Medicine
Michelle Brooks, MSN, RN
East Carolina University
Michelle Brooks was appointed executive vice dean of the Brody School of Medicine in 2022. As an advisor to the executive dean, she provides coordination and oversight of core initiatives, oversees operational and administrative functions and serves as the university’s legislative liaison, focusing on health care and health care workforce issues at the state and federal level.
Previously, Brooks was chief of staff to the vice chancellor of the health sciences division at ECU. A longtime resident of Greenville, she enjoyed a 30-year career at ECU Health that began as a bedside nurse and rose through a variety of positions to executive leadership.
Brooks earned her Master of Science in Nursing from East Carolina University.
Senior Leadership
L. Lorraine Basnight, MD
Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education
Kori L Brewer, PhD
Director of Foundational Science Integration
Nicholas Broskey, PhD
Interim Director, East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute
Mary Catherine Turner, MD, FACP, FAAP
Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education
John Cavanagh, PhD
Associate Dean of Research and Chair of Foundational Sciences
James P Coleman, PhD
Director of Course and Grading Architecture
Michelle DeVille, MPA, CHC, CHPC
Chief Integrity Officer
HIPAA Privacy and Security Officer
Cassandra Dixon, PhD
Associate Dean, Office of Student Success and Wellness
David L. Eldridge, MD
Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Sheena Eagan, PhD
Director of Medical Humanities Distinction Track in Medical Education
Melissa Eakes
Director, Business and Administrative Affairs
Allison Flowers
Director, Office of Faculty Affairs and Leadership Development
Jason Foltz, DO
Chief Medical Officer, ECU Health Physicians
Richard Franklin, PhD
Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies
Leekemase (Kema) Gadson, EdD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Foundational Sciences
Amanda Higginson, MD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Clinical Sciences
Shaundreal Jamison, MD
Interim Associate Dean of Admissions
Jennifer Parker-Cote, MD
Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation
Sy Saeed, MD
Director, ECU Center for Telepsychiatry and e-Behavioral Health; Executive Director, North Carolina Statewide Telepsychiatry Program (NC-STeP)
Joel Stocks, CPA
Associate Vice Chancellor, ECU Health Financial Management & Reporting and Executive Treasurer, ECU Foundation, Inc
David Tulis, PhD
Director of the Research Distinction Track in Medical Education
Dmitry Tumin, PhD
Associate Dean of Clinical and Educational Scholarship
Alyssa Spence
Interim Director, North Carolina Agromedicine Institute
Krista Wilhelm
Director, Alumni Affairs
Brigham C. Willis, MD, MEd
Associate Dean of Medical Education
Emmanuel Zervos, MD, FACS
Executive Director, ECU Health Cancer Care
Afrah Ali, MBBS
Associate Dean of Clinical Simulation