A consummate physician, a wise and energetic civic leader, and a dedicated public servant, Dr. Alfred W. Hamer, Jr. has demonstrated what it means to fully care for one’s community.
Dr. Hamer practiced obstetrics and gynecology in his hometown of Morganton, North Carolina, for forty years until his retirement in 2005. He has served as a Burke County commissioner, a Burke County School Board member and, since 1982, a member of the Morganton City Council and mayor pro-tempore. He also has held leadership positions in numerous professional, civic, and community service organizations.
Dr. Hamer received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following an internship at the Medical College of South Carolina, he returned to Chapel Hill for his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at North Carolina Memorial Hospital (now UNC Hospitals).
Dr. Hamer served in the U.S. Air Force for two years, first as assistant chief of the OB-GYN Service at Elgin AFB Hospital in Florida and then as chief of that service. He established Medical Heights OB-GYN in Morganton in 1965 and, for four decades, served his patients with “dignity and decorum,” says Robert D. Brame, MD, of Winston-Salem, a fellow UNC Medical School alumnus.
While building his own practice, Dr. Hamer started the Maternity Clinic at the Burke County Health Department, significantly improving access to high-quality care for the area’s financially disadvantaged population. In 1997, the North Carolina Public Health Association honored him with its Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Hamer is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has served as President of the Robert A. Ross Obstetrical and Gynecological Society at UNC, and he is a recipient of the Ross Society’s Distinguished Alumnus Service Award.
Dr. Hamer served as president of the medical staff at Grace Hospital in Morganton and as a member of the hospital’s Board of Directors. He also was on the medical staff of Valdese General Hospital in Valdese and was an OB-GYN consultant for both Broughton Hospital and Western Carolina Center in Morganton. In 1996 he was a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UNC.
He is a past president of the Burke County Medical Society and the Burke County Council on Alcoholism and has been a preceptor for nursing students at Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory and Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton.
Dr. Hamer’s record of civic engagement and leadership includes service as president of the Redevelopment Commission of Morganton, which played an indispensable role in the renewal of the city’s downtown area and in attracting new businesses and industries to the community.
“It is rare in this day and time to see a doctor become very active in community affairs, due to the great time demands of their profession,” says Mel Cohen, mayor of the City of Morganton. “Dr. Hamer should serve as a model to others in the medical profession that it can be done and that doctors can contribute not only to the health of their patients but also to the health of their community.”
Dr. Brame echoes those sentiments: “The Distinguished Medical Alumni Award will provide recognition for all those physicians whose efforts enhance the wellbeing of their communities – efforts that extend beyond their medical practices.”
“Dr. Hamer and those like him express the core values embraced and promoted by our University,” Dr. Brame adds. “I believe his accomplishments embellish the image of physicians at all levels, reflect the commitment of the UNC Medical School to high principles in all situations, and are worthy of special recognition by this great school, with its dedication to scientific excellence and to sterling virtue far beyond the science.”
W. Ray Samuels, MD, of Charlotte, a member of the UNC Medical School Class of 1961, says Dr. Hamer has been both a strong leader and a modest servant, exhibiting tireless devotion to everyone and everything he holds dear.
“His stellar service to the medical and civic community of Morganton and Burke County is well known, but what is most impressive about Albert Hamer is his integrity and his love of family, community, fellow man, and the medical school at the University of North Carolina.”
In recognition of his humanitarian spirit and his contributions as a beloved and highly respected physician and civic and governmental leader in his community, we are proud to present the Distinguished Medical Alumni Award to Dr. Alfred W. Hamer, Jr.
