J. MARION SIMS FOUNDATION ELECTS NEW OFFICERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2010

Contact: James T. Morton
President,
J. Marion Sims Foundation
(803) 286-8772

Members of the medical and legal professions have been elected to positions of leadership by the board of trustees of the J. Marion Sims Foundation.

Dr. R. Malcolm Edwards, A Lancaster ophthalmologist with The Eye and Laser Center, has been elected chairman of the board.  Robert K. Folks, a partner in the law firm of Folks, Khoury and DeVenny, has elected vice chairman, and Pamela Y. Temple of Great Falls, a medical professional with two decades’ experience in health care, has been elected secretary. 

Edwards, Folks, and Temple join Phyllis B. Bunkley, who will continue in her role as treasurer, as officers for the 2010-2011 year that began October 1.

A Lancaster native, Edwards graduated from the University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine (magna cum laude).  He completed his ophthalmology residency training at Emory University in Atlanta.  Edwards was actively involved in the surgical training of Emory eye residents and taught at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Edwards has served as chief of staff and chief of surgery at Springs Memorial Hospital.  He is also a past president of the Lancaster Rotary Club and led the founding of CareNet, an organization that helps provide free and low-cost healthcare to indigent and low-income members of the community.  Edwards became a trustee of the foundation in 2003.
 
Folks has practiced law in Lancaster since 1977 and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, holds a law degree from the USC School of Law, and studied at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England.  Folks served as a member and chairman of the Lancaster County Board of School Trustees, and also served as a trustee of Presbyterian College.

Folks’ civic involvement in Lancaster includes being a member and past president of the Lancaster Breakfast Rotary Club, and as a trustee and chairman of the Lancaster County Community Foundation.  He currently serves as vice chairman of the board of Thornwell Home for Children in Clinton, SC.  He served as the foundation’s attorney from 1995 until he joined the board as a trustee in 2006.

Temple, a native and current resident of Great Falls, graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing.  Employed with Springs Memorial Hospital for 19 years, she worked in various positions, including Director of Home Care and Hospice, and Director of Quality and Risk Management.  She has served on the Lancaster County Health and Wellness Commission and the Catawba Area Council on Aging’s Advisory Council.

Temple has actively volunteered for the Boy Scouts of America and is currently serving as a volunteer for the Chester County School District.  She became a foundation trustee in 2005.

The J. Marion Sims Foundation’s mission is to support programs and projects of prevention and education that enhance the health and wellness of the citizens of Lancaster County and the communities of Great Falls and Fort Lawn.