The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health has created an advisory board, which held its first meeting May 29, 2014 at the Carolina Club at the Georges Watts Hill Alumni Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Center, part of the Department of Psychiatry at the UNC School of Medicine, was created with a grant from The Duke Endowment in 2009. It serves individuals with serious mental illness and their families in Orange, Chatham and Wake counties and provides technical services for mental health 
professionals around the State.
The advisory board will support the mission of the Center by advising and assisting in the development of its overall strategy. Board members will serve as advocates for the Center to increase its visibility internally and externally and assist in fundraising efforts. The board is voluntary.
“The Center has grown rapidly since it was created nearly five years ago, and we have made great progress,” says John Gilmore, MD, director and medical director of the Center, vice chair and Thad and Alice Eure Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. “Now, we need additional expertise as we continue to grow, look at new opportunities, and stay focused on providing treatment, which we know works and helping other providers across North Carolina provide that same treatment.”
Board members are appointed for three-year terms. The Board will elect officers at its July meeting. Board members include: Elin Abercrombie who is a therapist and writer. Her current project is Behind the Wall: The True Story of Mental Illness as Told by Parents, to be published in 2014. The mission of this work is to de-stigmatize mental illness and offer hope for families affected by brain disorders. She received her masters from Tufts University and completed an externship in family therapy at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center. Abercromie has counseled families, adolescents, and young adults. She has worked with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center and NAMI Orange County.
Joanna Bowen, JD, is an attorney, a mental health supporter and a career advocate of under-served populations. Residing in Chapel Hill, she serves as director on both NAMI Orange County and NAMI North Carolina boards. She shows her commitment to changing hearts and minds through the power of art by serving on the Center’s Brushes with Life committee. A graduate of Pace University School of Law and admitted to the bar in New York, Connecticut and North Carolina, Joanna practiced law in multiple Connecticut firms in general practice and litigation.
Bert Fisher, BA, is president and CEO of Community Partnerships, Inc., which provides services to individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, mental health or substance abuse issues, brain injury, and economically disadvantaged youth. Fisher has more than 25 years of nonprofit experience including serving as vice-president of development for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. A Duke graduate, he also worked at the university in managerial positions for 20 years. He lives in Hillsborough.
Barry Jacobs, BA, chair, Orange County Commission, author, and writer, has been site supervisor for 36 years at Moorefields, a wildlife refuge and 1785 house near Hillsborough listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He was elected commissioner in Orange County in 1998 and reelected three times, serving periodically as chair and vice chair of the board. A prolific writer, he has authored five books, annuals on ACC basketball, and hundreds of articles, including for the New York Times and Raleigh’s News and Observer.
Cornell Lamb lll BS, captain in the Carrboro Police Department, is currently the administrative division commander. He has been in law enforcement for 20 years, with 17 of those years at the Carrboro Police Department. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, he has diplomas from the FBI Academy and the North Carolina Justice Academy Management Development Program. Lamb served in United States Army and was member of the 82nd Airborne. Lamb is also a volunteer assistant football coach at Chapel Hill High School.
Tim McGloin, MSPH, is a retired research associate from UNC. He served as assistant director of Tobacco Prevention Program at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in public health education programs at UNC and NCCU. He serves on the board of the African American Dance Ensemble and advisory board of the UNC American Indian Center. McGloin lives in Durham and has taught documentary photography to youth in urban neighborhoods.
Tammy McHale, CPA and senior associate dean for Finance and Planning at UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, has more than three decades of financial and human resources operations experience at college and universities. She also held managerial positions at Colgate University. Her early career included auditing colleges and universities in upstate New York at Coopers and Lybrand (now Price Waterhouse Coopers). She lives in Cedar Grove.
Aaron Nelson, BS, has been president and CEO of the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce for 14 years, executive director of the Chamber’s charitable economic and community development affiliate since its creation in 2004, and is co-chair of the national Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, as well as co-founder of the national Institute for Sustainable Development. A UNC graduate, he was student body president and his first job was special assistant to the late Chancellor Michael Hooker.
Mebane Rash, JD, is the director of law and policy for the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research and editor of the Center’s journal, North Carolina Insight. Currently, the Center’s research topics include mental health reform; the aging of North Carolina’s population; financial aid the need to increase college completion; and environmental issues. A UNC School of Law graduate, she is admitted to practice in both the state and federal court system.
Candace Turney, CPA, with 34 years of experience in public accounting, is the managing partner of the Cary office of Rabon & Dailey, LLP. Her areas of focus are individual and small business taxation, small business accounting, consulting, and start-ups. She has served on the Durham Literacy Council and Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association boards. Turney has lived in the Triangle for 28 years and currently lives in Cary. A graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, she studied accounting and business at Butler University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Ken Wilson, MD a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University. A clinician and researcher, he is semi-retired. His lab work has focused on gut microbiota, especially Clostridium difficile, as well as molecular identification of bacteria, such as anthrax. Currently, he is pursuing an interest in indigenous healing traditions and what they might offer Western medicine. Wilson, a Chapel Hill resident, received both undergraduate and doctor of medicine degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill.
John Gilmore, MD, director and medical director, and Thava Mahadevan, MS, director of operations, will also serve on the board. Edward Binanay, director of outreach and community relations, will serve as the board coordinator.