News Team

UNC Health Care’s national reputation for cutting-edge research, quality patient care and excellent training of young professionals generates considerable attention from the news media. All media requests for interviews, filming and information gathering are handled by UNC Health Care’s News Team. If you are a member of the media call us at (919) 966-2860 or (919) 966-3367 with your request. On weekends, holidays and after 5 p.m. on week nights, please leave voice mail at (919) 966-3367. Leaving voice mail at that number will send a page to our on-call person.

Les Lang, Director of Research Communications
and Assistant Director of Public Affairs and Marketing
(919) 966-9366 office
(919) 923-2563 blackberry
E-mail: llang@unch.unc.edu

Les is the leader of UNC Health Care’s media team. His primary role is to coordinate publicity and related communications efforts about basic and clinical research conducted by our School of Medicine faculty. He also organizes the annual UNC Mini-Medical School lecture series for the community. Les serves on the advisory boards of the UNC Center for Women’s Health Research and the UNC Medical Journalism Graduate Program. Prior to joining UNC in 1998, Les reported for Reuters Health. He was also medical editor for the TV syndicated MED-NIWS (News Information Weekly Service) in Los Angeles and principal writer for LA-based Lifetime Medical Television.



Clinton Colmenares, Associate Director
(919) 966-8757 office
(919) 923-1552 blackberry
E-mail: ccolmena@unch.unc.edu

UNC is brimming with medical news, and there are a variety of places to read, watch and tweet this information. Clinton helps the news team make the most of their work, and finds ways for the public and reporters to access UNC news easily. He has been in this field since 1995, including stints as a newspaper reporter in San Antonio, Montgomery, Ala, and Nashville. He was a news director at Vanderbilt Medical Center, the University of Maine and UNC. He has been honored as a reporter by the AP, the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the medical associations of Texas and Alabama.

Stephanie Crayton, Media Relations Manager
(919) 966-2860 office
(919) 951-4758 blackberry
E-mail: scrayton@unch.unc.edu

Stephanie is UNC Health Care’s primary media contact person in charge of responding to requests for assistance from the news media. She also conducts media training with UNC faculty and leads UNC Health Care’s outreach to news media. Prior to joining UNC Health Care in 2001, Stephanie was a health reporter at television stations in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and Washington, D.C. She also worked at CNN in Atlanta. In 2006, Stephanie won an interactive media award from the North Carolina Association of Government Information Officers for the creation of UNC Health Care's Hurricane Katrina Relief Blog, in which UNC physicians and nurses who were deployed to the Gulf Coast wrote about their experiences.




Tom Hughes, Managing Editor
(919) 966-6047 office
(919) 923-6964 blackberry
E-mail: tahughes@unch.unc.edu

Tom is UNC Health Care’s lead news writer for all matters except basic science research. His primary role is to write news stories about clinical research and other clinical activities of UNC Health Care. He also serves as Web content manager for the news team and assists Stephanie Crayton and Clinton Colmenares with media relations activities. Prior to joining UNC Health Care in 2001, Tom worked as a news writer and copy editor at CNN.com in Atlanta and as a daily newspaper reporter at the Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery, Ala.  In 2005, Tom won first place in the news writing competition of the North Carolina Association of Government Information Officers.