Medical community recognizes Dr. Tayloe
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 13, 2013 1:46 PM
Local pediatrician, Dr. David Tayloe, recently received the T. Reginald Harris Memorial Award during the N.C. Medical Society's fall meeting.
This is the 15th year for the award, given by The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence in honor of the life and memory of Dr. Harris, one of its founding members. In addition to the award, recipients receive $2,500.
Dr. Tayloe started a solo practice in Goldsboro in 1977, becoming president of Goldsboro Pediatrics two years later. Today, Goldsboro Peds has four offices, including practices in LaGrange, Mount Olive and Princeton.
A native of Washington, N.C., Tayloe is the son of a pediatrician and, with wife, Denise, has four children in the medical profession -- Dr. David Tayloe III is a pediatrician in New Bern; Rebecca Seegars is a pharmacist at Wayne Memorial Hospital; Dr. Katherine MacDonald practices at Goldsboro Pediatrics; and Eleanor Kipp is a psychiatric nurse in Nashville, Tenn.
Beyond the scope of his pediatric practice, Dr. Tayloe has also been an advocate for child health, both in the medical profession and in the community.
A Morehead Scholar and a Morehead Fellow in Medicine, he graduated with honors from UNC School of Medicine in 1974. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He served on the state's Child Health Insurance Program Task Force and the Commission on Children with Special Healthcare Needs for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. He also served on the Committee for Action for Children N.C. to develop children's health insurance proposals. In 1999, he was appointed by Gov. Jim Hunt to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and was on the Governor's Board of Directors for Health Information Exchange. He has been credited with providing valuable guidance as a consultant to Community Care of North Carolina in the development of a program to improve the care of children with special needs.
Locally, Dr. Tayloe has been chairperson of the Wayne County First Steps Consortium, a program for decreasing risk of child abuse and neglect. He volunteers his time as medical director for "Reach Out and Read North Carolina," and he is an advocate for more effective multi-lingual health care for children.
Earlier this year, he received the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce's highest honor, the Cornerstone Award, for contributions made in the community and particularly in the area of children's health care.
He has been a proponent of such efforts as WISH, or Wayne Initiative for School Health, school-based health centers currently in six of the public schools.
An active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he served as president of the nation's largest pediatric organization from 2008 to 2009. He has since been appointed to the American Medical Association Council on Legislation and continues to serve AAP as a delegate to the AMA House of Delegates.
The 64-year-old has also served as a leader in the medical staff of Wayne Memorial Hospital and the former Goldsboro City School Board of Education.
He said he was a bit surprised by the recent award, preferring to share credit with his staff.
"I think this award is more of a quality in practice award," he said. "(Dr.) Joe Ponzi, he's wonderful with organizational elements of practices and computerization in practice, electronic medical records, all the things you have to do to put together a quality practice. I really can't take credit for that part of the business."
Tayloe said he has devoted his efforts to being more of a "community catalyst" for the practice -- building partnerships with programs like Head Start, Smart Start, mental health service areas and the public schools, as well as everyone who comprises Goldsboro Pediatrics.