Award-winning health news editor to speak at CPHS Spring Commencement

From nurse to entrepreneur, Rose Hoban has been working in healthcare since 1992. Her passion and dedication for sharing health system news with the public has received numerous accolades. The soon-to-be graduates, faculty and staff of the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences look forward to her address during Spring Commencement on Friday at 3 p.m. in the John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center in Buies Creek, where more than 240 students will receive their diplomas.

About Rose Hoban

Rose Hoban came to North Carolina in 2005 to be the health reporter for North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC, where she covered health care, state health policy, science and research for six years, focusing on public health issues. She left the station to start the nonprofit North Carolina Health News after watching many of her professional peers leave or be laid off of their jobs, leaving NC with few people to cover this complicated and important topic.  

Hoban took a circuitous route into journalism. She received a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1992 and spent a decade practicing nursing, in settings that varied from an emergency room in inner-city D.C., to a program for homebound seniors in New York City, to working with people displaced from their homes in Indonesia as a project manager for Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres. A natural-born storyteller, Hoban realized that her true calling was in telling stories about the health care system, so she put down her stethoscope and picked up a pen. In 2000, she enrolled at UC Berkeley’s journalism school. While at Berkeley, she also earned a master’s degree in public health policy. 

Hoban’s work has been recognized both regionally and nationally with numerous awards, including broadcast’s highest award – the Columbia-DuPont. She has won a national Gracie Award, an Edward R. Morrow award, a regional Society for Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade award and numerous NC Press Association awards. In 2010, she was awarded a fellowship by the Association of Health Care Journalists to do in-depth reporting on North Carolina’s mental health system.  

Hoban has built a team of prize-winning reporters at NC Health News who cover all aspects of the state’s health care system, including mental health, aging, children’s health, prison health, gender health issues, oral health, rural health, Medicaid and state government. Twelve years since launching, NC Health News has built a national reputation for excellence and innovation.  


About Campbell University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences

Campbell University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences is committed to preparing students to excel in the ever-expanding world of healthcare. In addition to the Doctor of Pharmacy program, the College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in clinical research and in pharmaceutical sciences, a master’s degree in public health, and professional degrees in nursing, physician assistant practice, and physical therapy. The College announced in 2020 the addition of the first Doctor of Health Sciences program in North Carolina and a 100% online RN to BSN program. 

Since graduating its first class in 1990, the College has more than 5,000 alumni who live in 49 out of 50 states. The graduates have gone on to lead purposeful lives of meaningful service as they meet existing healthcare needs while providing leadership within their professions.