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Kathy James has been with the Division of Infectious Diseases for nearly 28 years and is known for her\u00a0reliability and willingness to help. She says her colleagues feel like her extended family. Before life in North Carolina, Kathy\u00a0used to be a singer, dancer and cancan dancer in a western variety show in Pittsburgh, which is her hometown.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2023\/06\/KathyJames-e1687805266898.jpeg\")
What\u2019s your role and how long have you been a part of our department?<\/h3>\n
I\u2019m an administrative support supervisor and have been with the department of medicine\/division of infectious diseases since Nov of 1995. I became permanent in Feb 1996<\/p>\n
I\u2019m originally from Pittsburgh, PA until I moved to NC in 1985<\/p>\n
When I graduated from Alamance Community College with my associate in medical office technology I started applying for many jobs. I had many interviews with the University and was told many times that I didn\u2019t have the experience and they offered the position to someone else. I finally had an interview opportunity with Dr. Charlie van der Horst and Dr. Joe Eron with the division of infectious diseases. I was so excited to finally be offered the position. I worked hard so I could prove that I was worth the risk.<\/p>\n
I would have to say the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n
Everything, I feel like the division is like my extended family. I\u2019ve watched many colleagues\u2019 children grow up and are now in college or married with children.<\/p>\n
I started out as an administrative assistant. Over the years of learning a lot about how the division works I gradually moved up to administrative supervisor and took on a lot more responsibilities.<\/p>\n
That I\u2019m always available to help no matter how busy I am.<\/p>\n
When I received the Massey Award. It was a great honor and knowing hard work eventually pays off.<\/p>\n
I would love to take my 4 grandchildren to Disney. Being a single mom, I was never able to afford to take my children.<\/p>\n
We love camping in our 5th<\/sup> wheel toy hauler, riding motorcycles, singing, and spending time with my grandchildren.<\/p>\n Not to be so hard on myself and realizing other people\u2019s mean comments show more about them than me.<\/p>\n I used to be a singer and cancan dancer in a western variety show in Pittsburgh. We would do shows for senior citizens on a bus tour from different states then give them a tour of Pittsburgh. I also was in a band in Raleigh and performed in several musicals in NC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kathy James has been with the Division of Infectious Diseases for nearly 28 years and is known for her\u00a0reliability and willingness to help. She says her colleagues feel like her extended family. Before life in North Carolina, Kathy\u00a0used to be a singer, and cancan dancer in a western variety show in Pittsburgh, which is her hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112673,"featured_media":64567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[626,100,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-staff","category-infectious-diseases","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat piece of advice would you give to your younger self?<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?<\/h3>\n