A Doctor with Conviction

FORSYTH COUKTV
DEPARTMENT OF PUBUC HEAOM FOOD LION
Recognizes
Dr. Tim
More often than not, those who hold high-profile posi¬
tions are reticent to rock the boat, even when issues of equal¬
Monroe
ity and life and death are on theofline.
Dr. Tim Monroe is not one those kind of people. He
has lead the Forsyth County Department of Public Health
since the summer of 2001, overseeing more than 230
as a Special
The gamut of serv¬
employees and a budget of $16 million. includes
ices provided by the Health Department everything Recognition
from childhood immunizations and prenatal care to STD
ratings.
testing and restaurant sanitation has
In Monroe, the community an outspoken advocate
who has continuously calfed as he has seen it without regard
t. Division Award
the consequences. A year ago, Monroe publicly called the
Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, the tobody that con¬ Public He recipient
trols the Health Department's purse strings, task for the
lack of African Americans on the county's Board of Health.
State law requires that health boards mirror the communities
that they serve, a point that Monroe was also quick to point
OUI.
When it comes to the well-being of Forsyth County resi¬ pport for th
¦sr^ seri
dents, Monroe also pulls no punches. In November, he
joined a group of others inthatcalling
minimum wage, arguing
for increase in the state's
a higher minimum wage would
health
allow county residents to achieve a higher standard of livings
and belter health. Citing the health of students and moun¬
tains of research showing the harms of cigarettes. Monroe
has also called for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board
of Education to ban smoking at all schools. The call, so far,
has fallen on death ears with School Board members, but
that has not silenced Monroe 'on the issue.
true-blue Tar heel, Monroe earned his bachelor, master
and doctor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.
For the past two decades he has dedicated his life to public
health as both a teacher and leader. He was a District
Medical- Director for fhe S.C. Department of Health and
Environment in the 1980s. His first experience as head of
health department came in 1986 when Monroe was hired to
run the Pitt County Department of Health. He led the depart¬
ment for a decade before heading to the midwest to work for
the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. There,
he served in several capacities, eventually becoming the
Epidemiologist. Director*
agency's Medical Health
The Forsyth Department job brought
Monroe back to North Carolina. On his watch, the depart¬
ment has also valiantly fought against infant mortality and
preventive disease.
R\, is.ip^r/te^wthe lpvely Helen Monroe.