Dr. James L. McAbee of Mill Spring, N.C., the son of the late Anna Maria and Dennis McAbee, and the grandson of Gladys Melton and Jimmy Thompson, and Hicks and Alcie McAbee, has earned his doctoral degree from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala.

Dr. McAbee is a ‘99 graduate of Polk County High School and a N.C. Scholar. He attended Western Carolina University where he earned both bachelors and masters degrees prior to attending his doctoral program at the University of South Alabama.

During his doctoral education he assisted in the program development of a multidisciplinary oncology team at the Mitchel Cancer Institute, as well as the development of a behavioral health clinic within the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind.

Dr. McAbee’s research has been presented at various regional and national conferences, as well as published in peer-reviewed journals and edited books. He has also been an invited speaker to numerous events to discuss the impacts of behavioral health on chronic illness.

Dr. McAbee completed his residency in behavioral medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in New Orleans, La. During his residency he conducted neurocognitive evaluations, as well as worked with oncology patients undergoing stem cell therapy at the Tulane Cancer Center and patients undergoing solid organ transplant procedures at the Tulane Transplant Institute.

He is currently completing his fellowship at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System in New Orleans with a specialization in the treatment of chronic pain.

– article submitted by Gladys Melton