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, National Media Strategist
919-966-8757 office
919-923-1552 blackberry
E-mail: ccolmena@unch.unc.edu

Clinton connects national and international news outlets with UNC Health Care’s clinical and research faculty and he constantly looks for opportunities in new media. Clinton has been in this field since 1995, including five years as a medical reporter for newspapers in San Antonio, Montgomery, Ala. and Nashville, and as a news director at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of Maine and UNC. He has been honored as a reporter from the AP, Gannett, the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and medical associations in 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 release writer for all matters except basic science research. His primary role is to write news releases 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.