Dr. Dr. J. West Paul, Jr., M.D., PhD. Jr., M.D., PhD.

Dr. J. West Paul Jr., M.D., Ph.D., 63, passed away peacefully on July 31st 2025, surrounded by his family, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.

A celebration of West's life will be held Saturday, August 9, 2025, at the East Carolina Heart Institute (115 Heart Drive, Greenville, NC 27834) at 2:00 p.m., featuring reflections from friends, family, and former classmates and colleagues.

West was born on January 31, 1962, in Greenville, North Carolina, to Joe W. Paul Sr. and Ann Smith Paul. He graduated from Ayden-Grifton High School and went on to study Zoology at Duke University. In 1992, he became the first person to earn both an M.D. and Ph.D. simultaneously from East Carolina University School of Medicine.

After a brief period in drug development as a group leader at Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals, West entered the inaugural residency class in Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Upon completion, he returned to ECU to practice Internal Medicine, later rejoining Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to lead the Division of General Internal Medicine. During his tenure there, he held numerous leadership roles, most notably as Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and Chair of Patient Safety and Quality.

In 2013, he became Chief Quality Officer at WakeMed in Raleigh, where he brought his expertise from Mayo Clinic to improve care delivery in a large health system. In 2019, he joined New Hanover Regional Medical Center as Chief Clinical Officer, where his leadership was instrumental in the community response to COVID-19 in Wilmington NC. Most recently, in June 2024, West returned to East Carolina University School of Medicine as a professor and attending physician in the Internal Medicine clinic - returning to what he considered his true calling: caring for patients and mentoring students and residents.

Throughout his distinguished career, West received numerous awards for teaching and service. He was deeply admired by colleagues, patients, and trainees. His mentorship endures in the many physicians and healthcare professionals who carry forward his mission around the world, guided by his simple, unwavering principle: the needs of the patient come first.

West is survived by his beloved wife of 41 years, Sheri Howell Paul; his son, Joseph West Paul III and his daughter-in-law Ashley Meehan Paul of Oakland, California; his son William Benton Paul and his partner Kea McKibben of Rocky Mount, North Carolina; his father-in-law Curtis Howell, of Greenville NC; his sister and brother-in-law, Jo-Anna and Tom Clark of Durham, North Carolina; his sister- and brother-in-law, Tracy and Jeff Harkness of Alpharetta, Georgia; and his nieces and nephews, Anna and Randy McClure of Marin County, California, Karen and Jeff Holmes of Davidson, North Carolina, and Benton and Landon Harkness of Alpharetta, Georgia; many great-nieces and-nephews as well.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of West may be made at give.ecu.edu/PaulMemorial. Proceeds will support the establishment of scholarship opportunities at East Carolina University, an institution that has held profound significance for our family and for the broader eastern North Carolina community.