Dr. Laura Staton, a retired physician and volunteer with local youth-support programs, has joined the Beaufort County Community College Board of Trustees. She was appointed to the college board by Gov. Pat McCrory.
Staton took the oath of office at a recent meeting of the BCCC board and will serve a four-year term.
“The BCCC Board of Trustees is pleased to welcome Dr. Staton as one of its members,” said board Chairman Russell Smith. “With her medical experience and as an active volunteer for young people in the community, Dr. Staton will bring valuable insight to the board as it works to provide quality education for the region.”
A native of Independence, Mo., Staton earned a bachelor’s degree in public health education from Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., and a doctor of osteopathic medicine from the Univeristy of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Mo. She also completed a post-graduate flexible internship at Garden City Osteopathic Hospital in Garden City, Mich., and a master’s degree in public health from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wis.
Staton also holds Aerospace Medicine Primary Course, Department of Defense Emergency Medicine and Basic Curriculum in Occupational Medicine certificates.
Staton served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1983 to 1988, attaining the rank of Major. In that role, she was assigned to and served as the doctor for Air Force pilots and their family members, among other duties.
She subsequently was employed as an occupational medicine physician, as Senior Area Medical Director for the Mid-Atlantic Area with the U.S. Postal Service and as Medical Director for U.S. Airways.
From 2002 to 2010, she worked a medical consulting practice in occupational medicine through Corporate Healthcare Consultants.
Staton has been active in local organizations serving local youth since moving to Beaufort County in 2005. She serves in the Beaufort County Guardian ad Litem Program as a court-appointed advocate for children in the custody of the Department of Social Services and as a volunteer with the department’s foster teen life-skills program, LINKS.
She is a former member and Secretary of the Eagle’s Wings Food Pantry Board of Directors and has volunteered with that organization since 2005. She also volunteers with the Humane Society of Beaufort County and Ruth’s House Domestic Violence Shelter.
Staton is a Beaufort County Extension Master Gardener and, in her spare time, enjoys gardening, crafts and tennis. Staton and her husband, Charles W. “Bill” Staton, live in Cypress Landing.