Three from WakeMed Named to Triangle Business Journal’s 2022 Class of Health Care Leadership Award Winners

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 2, 2022) – On Tuesday, March 1, the Triangle Business Journal unveiled its 2022 class of Health Care Leadership Award honorees, which included three WakeMed winners. Dr. David Kirk, Dr. Nerissa Price, and Emily Mengel are among only 15 health care heroes from across the Triangle to be recognized this year. Each of these WakeMed honorees were recognized for their significant impact on the health and well-being of our patients, the WakeMed family, and the community.

Dr. David Kirk

Pulmonary & Critical Care Specialist and Associate Chief Medical Officer for WakeMed


Category: Doctor of the Year

For more than 15 years, Dr. David Kirk has treated WakeMed’s most critically ill patients and supported our frontline staff. A pulmonary and critical care specialist, Dr. Kirk leads WakeMed’s team of ICU intensivists and WakeMed’s eICU staff who have heroically cared for COVID-19 patients and their families. He is an outstanding physician who looks through a lens of compassion and innovation. While Dr. Kirk’s work has always made a great impact at WakeMed and throughout the larger healthcare community, his leadership has never been more evident than during the pandemic. A constant, steady presence at WakeMed, he has risen to the challenge time and time again to keep our patients, the WakeMed family and the community safe and informed. He’s fighting COVID with everything he’s got and continues to lead with kindness.

Dr. Nerissa Price

Psychiatrist, Medical Director of WakeMed’s Homeless Engagement Assistance & Resource Team (HEART), & Medical Director of Well-Being Initiatives for WakeMed Physician Practices


Category: Diversity Leader in Health Care

Psychiatrist Dr. Nerissa Price is a Wake County native who grew up in the 27610 code, the same zip code where she’s making a lasting impact that will improve the health and well-being of generations to come. Dr. Price has worked tirelessly to address health disparities, mental health needs, and vaccine equity while helping lead grassroots efforts to serve more communities of color and unsheltered individuals. She has spent her career improving the health of unhoused individuals and families, many with mental illness and a distrust of doctors and medications. Helping the homeless on the streets of 27610 is a calling for Dr. Price. And that call rang louder than ever this past year as she helped vaccinate historically marginalized populations – including communities of color, the elderly, and the homeless. Dr. Price has been an incredible voice for the often voiceless, an advocate for mental health, and a champion for equity and access in healthcare. She’s also incredible asset to WakeMed’s frontline staff, providing emotional support and other resources throughout the pandemic.

Emily Mengel

WakeMed Clinical Engineer


Category: Rising Health Care Leader

As a WakeMed clinical engineer, Emily Mengel, provides high-level support throughout the hospital – developing solutions to clinical and technical problems as they arise. During the August 2021 COVID-19 surge, Mengel’s quick, innovative thinking unearthed a solution to allow WakeMed’s eICU teams to keep a close watch on critically-ill patients while preserving time and PPE. Her work to repurpose some of WakeMed’s resources allowed our eICU team to keep eyes on our sickest patients 24/7 during the height of the COVID-19 surge – which was critical to keeping our patients as safe as possible. Thanks to her critical thinking and troubleshooting to integrate existing technology, WakeMed’s eICU care teams could see and talk with patients, family members and on-site care team members to enhance the level of care we were able to provide during record-breaking patient volumes across WakeMed’s ICUs. Throughout the pandemic, the Clinical Engineering team has been focused on taking technology WakeMed already owns and using it in new and creative ways to better serve our patients.

About WakeMed Health & Hospitals

Serving the community since 1961, WakeMed is a not-for-profit health care system founded and based in Raleigh, N.C. WakeMed exists to improve the health and well-being of our community by providing outstanding and compassionate care to all. WakeMed’s 970-bed system comprises a network of facilities throughout the Triangle area, including three full-service hospitals, seven emergency departments, a dedicated Children’s Hospital and Rehabilitation Hospital, more than 80 physician offices and Wake County’s only Level I Trauma Center. WakeMed’s mission-driven team includes more than 10,000 employees, 1,500 volunteers and 1,300 affiliated physicians, along with the more than 580 physicians and providers with WakeMed Physician Practices – all representing the best minds and the biggest hearts and the finest quality in health care and community health. For more information, visit www.wakemed.org or follow WakeMed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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