Brody School of Medicine’s Dr. Tom Irons honored with Spirit Award

• Bobby Ampezzan

• ECU Now Blog
• Faculty/Staff
• Health Sciences
• Medical
• Service

Dr. Thomas "Tom" Irons, a retired East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine professor whose lifetime commitment to rural health care earned him a place in the state of North Carolina's Order of the Long Leaf Pine, was honored last month with the Spirit of Free and Charitable Clinics Award from the state association of the same name.

"If I'm ever recognized for anything, I would want it to be for helping the disadvantaged, those on the margins," Irons said. "I'd rather have my name on the wall of a soup kitchen or a free clinic than on a tall building or a highway."

Irons is revered for his enterprising work driving specialized care into unhoused populations, the underinsured and rural families. A pediatrician by training, Irons began educating future doctors at the Brody School of Medicine in 1981. He retired in 2022 as an associate vice chancellor for health sciences.

Today, he is the medical director of Access East, which handles Medicaid care management and uninsured care for patients at ECU Health. He also serves as the medical director for the N.C. Agromedicine Institute. He spends a few hours each week helping administer the JOY Community Center and Soup Kitchen.

Longtime ECU Brody School of Medicine professor Tom Irons received the Spirit Award from the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.

Irons is presented with the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics' Spirit Award by CEO April Cook at a ceremony Oct. 23.

He oversaw the student-run Pitt County Care Clinic for 23 years and was the catalyst for the James D. Bernstein Community Center in Greenville, built to provide high-quality medical and dental care to low-income and uninsured patients.

According to the association, the Spirit Award from the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics celebrates Irons' "sacrifice, compassion and contributions" to the cause.

"I say to those who don't understand why this is my passion, 'There but by the grace of God go you and me," Irons said. "We have to remember that all these folks are human beings just like us. Their problems and failures overwhelm them just as they would overwhelm us."

Irons, known for his lifelong advocacy of health care access for the unhoused and uninsured, has been recognized with many awards during his distinguished career. Those awards include the Jim Bernstein Community Health Career Achievement Award and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest honor bestowed by the Governor of North Carolina that confers "the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary" and the privilege of leading the official state toast "anywhere in the world," according to the organization.

The North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics supports the mission of 69 member clinics that see more than 75,000 North Carolinians, in most cases at no cost to the patient. These clinics are part of the state's health care safety net for uninsured and low-income residents, and the association supports them with funding, advocacy, education and more. Visit the NCAFCC website to learn more.