Subcommittee Member: Charlene Wong
Charlene Wong, M.D.
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Associate Professor, Pediatrics and Public Policy
Duke University
Charlene Wong, M.D., serves as the assistant secretary for children and families at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). In this role, she provides vision and leadership for supporting whole child and family health in North Carolina and oversees two divisions: The Division of Child and Family Well-Being and the Division of Child Development and Early Education. She is a practicing primary care pediatrician, specializing in adolescent and young adult medicine. She also serves as executive director of North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids (NC InCK), an innovative model serving Medicaid-insured children in central North Carolina that integrates supports and data across healthcare, educational, and social sectors (e.g., schools, housing, food, early care and education, child welfare). Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as chief health policy officer for COVID-19 at NCDHHS.
Dr. Wong is also associate professor of pediatrics and public policy at Duke University. Her work has focused on healthcare transformation that supports a more holistic approach to health and well-being and health-related behavior change, leveraging principles from behavioral economics. She is a leader in value-based payment models for child and family health and employs person-centered research and policy practices. Her research and policy training includes fellowships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.
