East Tennessee State University’s College of Health Sciences recognized the educators, clinicians, leaders and alumni whose careers have made lasting contributions to their professions and communities at its Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30.  

This year’s Hall of Fame inductees are Drs. Patricia E. Robertson, Dorothy “Dottie” Saxon Greene and Dr. Shane Keene. Dr. Noelle Eads and Ashley Stewart received the college’s Distinguished Alumna Award and was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Distinguished Alumna

Eads earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education with an exercise science concentration from ETSU in 2010 and earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy from ETSU in 2013. Eads has built a career in pelvic health, co-founding Empassion Pelvic Health Physical Therapy in Johnson City in 2022. In the years since, it has grown into a multidisciplinary practice with a dozen employees – expanding access to holistic pelvic health services in the region.  

Eads also helped establish The Grove in 2026, a holistic women’s health center providing pelvic-health rehabilitation together with lactation, midwifery and sonography services in one location.

Stewart earned both her Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work degrees from ETSU in 2016 and 2017. She is an academic professional track professor of social work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she teaches across the undergraduate curriculum while maintaining a clinical practice.  

Stewart’s scholarship focuses on adolescent mental health, suicide prevention and health disparities affecting Black and other underserved communities. Her work also explores culturally responsive approaches to behavioral health and barriers to mental health care among historically underserved populations.She is completing a joint Ph.D. in social work through UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University and has successfully defended her dissertation.

Hall of Fame inductees

Robertson joined ETSU as a faculty member in 1997 and built a distinguished career as a counselor educator, clinician and academic leader. She currently serves as chair of the Department of Human Learning and Development in the College of Health Sciences and has held numerous leadership roles both at the university and in her field.  

A National Certified Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor, Robertson mentored generations of students and professionals while advancing counseling education and support for students. Her legacy at ETSU continues through the Dr. Patricia E. Robertson Center located in the D.P. Culp Student Center, which supports student belonging, well-being, leadership development and personal growth.

Saxon Greene is a professor emerita in the College of Health Sciences’ Department of Social Work, where she developed the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Addiction Counseling Studies and helped prepare students for careers in addiction treatment and recovery. She also helped secure $1.2 million to establish the Johnson City Recovery Center, the first recovery community center in the Tri-Cities, and later served as its executive director.  

Saxon Greene’s career has combined teaching, clinical practice, scholarship and community engagement focused on addiction and recovery, earning her honors including ETSU’s Distinguished Faculty in Service Award and 2024 Notable Woman of the Year.

Keene served as an ETSU faculty member from 2008-2014, including five years as assistant chair in the Department of Allied Health Sciences in the College of Health Sciences and program director for cardiopulmonary science and polysomnography. During his time at ETSU, he developed the first online polysomnography program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and received the college’s distinguished faculty awards for both research and teaching.  

Keene later held academic leadership positions at the University of Cincinnati and today serves as chief operating officer of the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care and director of the respiratory care program at the University of Cincinnati. A Fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care, he has contributed extensively to respiratory care education, accreditation and the advancement of the profession.

To learn more about the ETSU College of Health Sciences, visit etsu.edu/chs/.