For Megan Lumley, vice president of support services at UNC Health Rex, her career has been filled with full-circle moments.
Lumley started her career at UNC Health as an administrative fellow, where she attended high-level meetings and learned from executive mentors on a daily basis.
“I got to see firsthand early on in my career how deeply executives cared about their roles, their teams, and, most importantly, their patients. They were committed to doing the right thing, and every discussion ultimately centered on making the best possible decision for the hospital,” says Lumley. “It took me 20 years to get back in those high-level leadership meetings, and I strive to carry those values forward and focus on what is best for our patients and teammates.”
Now, Lumley helps oversee the same administrative fellowship program that helped launch her career at UNC Health.
“I’m at the point in my career where a fellow will say, ‘You’re just like my mom,’ or ‘My mom does that,’” says Lumley. “We are now in the era where I’m the ‘work’ mom, which I’m honored to be.”
It was as a mom that Lumley first heard about the Poe Center, a nonprofit that offers youth health education across North Carolina. She visited the Poe Center’s headquarters in Raleigh years ago as a chaperone on her daughters’ field trips. Then, in 2020, as a UNC colleague was stepping down from their board, she was invited to take his place.
“Once I set foot in there, I knew that this was going to be a great fit,” says Lumley of the Poe Center.
As a board member, Lumley supports the Poe Center in many ways — from promoting interactive exhibits about the brain and body to facilitating healthy eating demonstrations and helping plan major events. She finds the team’s work deeply motivating. “They’re working so hard to get this education out to our children. It’s all absolutely inspiring.”
At UNC Health, Lumley draws that same inspiration from her teammates. “They are absolutely incredible — how hard they work every single day for our patients,” she says. “They are why I am here. Not having a clinical background, I cannot save a life, but I have the honor of supporting those who do.”
