Jean Fisher Brinkley is NCMB’s Communications Director, a role that involves developing and overseeing production of communications materials and strategies needed to enhance public and professional awareness and understanding of the Board and its mission. She joined NCMB in 2008, after an 11-year career in newspaper journalism, most of it dedicated to reporting on medicine, health policy and the business aspects of health care.

Brinkley earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Mills College in Oakland, CA, and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Raleigh with her husband and two daughters.

You can reach Jean at podcast@ncmedboard.org

Blake Fagan, MD, is an innovative family physician and faculty educator who draws on both sets of skills to provide strategic leadership for MAHEC’s rapidly growing Department of Family Medicine. A strong proponent of evidence-based medicine, Dr. Fagan is committed to ensuring the quality and success of the department’s clinical services, research and scholarly activities, and graduate medical education programs. He provides support for three family medicine residencies in Asheville, Hendersonville, and Boone, NC; a transitional year residency; and addiction medicine, sports medicine, and rural fellowships. Dr. Fagan is also board certified in addiction medicine and is a national leader in safe pain management, safe opioid prescribing, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. He has led workforce development initiatives to expand North Carolina’s capacity to treat opioid use disorder and served as clinical consultant for the opioid crisis for the CDC Foundation in North Carolina.

Dr. Fagan is an engaging educator and seasoned professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. As a graduate of MAHEC’s family medicine residency program, he also serves as an inspiring mentor for residents, fellows, and medical students at MAHEC.