|  Joyce
Ann Clayton Nichols
Former Senior Physician Assistant
Lincoln Community Health Center
Durham, NC Retired Class: 1970
Induction: 2002 Joyce Nichols attended the North Carolina College at Durham (now
North Carolina Central University), Durham Technical College, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Duke University
Physician Assistant Program. Prior to becoming a physician assistant,
Ms. Nichols served five years as a nurse on the cardiology ward
of the Duke University Hospital and after graduation as a physician
assistant remained affiliated with the Duke University Medical Center
serving as a clinical instructor for the Department of Community
and Family Medicine for fourteen years. In 1995, Ms. Nichols retired
after providing twenty-three years of service to the Lincoln Community
Health Center in Durham. At the time of her retirement, Joyce was
managing the diabetes and hypertension clinics and providing primary
care services to the homeless shelter in Durham. Her contributions to the physician assistant profession are many.
She is a charter member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants
and the North Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants. Ms. Nichols
was a member of each organization’s Board of Directors, serving
as treasurer of the North Carolina Academy. She helped write bylaws
for both organizations and along with William Stanhope ('69) organized
the Minority Affairs Committee of the American Academy of Physician
Assistants. As a pioneer and trailblazer of the PA profession, Ms.
Nichols was the first female to graduate from the Duke PA Program
and with the help of E. Harvey Estes, Jr., MD, former Chair of Community
and Family Medicine, started the first Rural Health Clinic in North
Carolina to demonstrate the effectiveness of PAs delivering quality
health care services to medically underserved communities. Recognizing her concerns for poor people and her advocacy skills,
Mayor Webert Gulley appointed Ms. Nichols as a commissioner to the
Durham Housing Authority. She served the authority for fifteen years,
winning a number of legal concessions for tenants in housing developments.
She was the first African-American to become president of the Durham-Orange
Counties Bowling Association and the first African-American to serve
as foreperson of Durham’s Grand Jury in 1971. Ms. Nichols
has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Durham County
Hospital Corporation and the Lincoln Community Health Center, serving
currently as chair of Lincoln’s Board. Ms. Nichols has received many awards and certificates of appreciation
including the Durham Chapter Continental Societies Award in 1989,
the distinguished alumnus award from the Duke University PA Program
in 1989, the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award in 1991, and the American
Academy of Physician Assistants Presidents Award and National PA
Humanitarian Award in 1996. < < < Back
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