Peter J. Morris, MD, Named Winner of 2023 E. Harvey Estes, MD Physician Community Service Award

E. Harvey Estes, Jr., MD, Physician Community Service Award

Peter Morris, MD, MPH, MDiv

Dr. Peter Morris has been a physician leader in Wake County since 1986 when he joined the then Wake County Health Department as Medical Director and Deputy Director. In his career he has gone well beyond Medical Director, as he oversaw, consecutively, Maternal and Child Health, Communicable Disease, Child Protective Services, Adoptions and Foster Care, Community Mental Health, and Adult Services. He practiced pediatrics at WakeMed, first in the outpatient night clinic and then as a relief Pediatric Hospitalist and Intensivist. He has won teaching awards from Duke Family Medicine, UNC Pediatrics, and WakeMed.

Dr. Gerri Mattson says “his work as Executive Director of Urban Ministries clearly transcends any medical role. Dr. Morris has guided the Open Door Clinic to include health and nutrition education and behavioral health. The Hunger and Nutrition program has quadrupled from serving 25 to 85 families per day. Also, the Helen Wright Centers for Women, the largest program for homeless women in the county, has job training, mental health and substance use treatment and physical health on site. This is the work not of a doctor but an excellent executive director, shaping his community’s health. And the community is better for it.”