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State Launches New Office Of Health Equity

(AP Photo/Mic Smith)

North Carolina has hired its first-ever Chief Health Equity Officer. Victor Armstrong will head a newly created office within the Department of Health and Human Services.  

State officials say the Office of Health Equity was designed to reduce disparities in opportunity and outcomes for historically marginalized populations.

Armstrong will be tasked with leading an initiative to promote diversity and inclusion across all NCDHHS services and within internal employee culture.

According to a news release, Armstrong joined the department in 2020 as Director of the NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.

He released a statement saying that a focus on health equity is urgently needed and that no one should be disadvantaged because of their social status.

Former State Senator Angela Bryant is also joining the department as Assistant Secretary of Equity and Inclusion.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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