Mountain Hawk Heroes: Track and Field Alum Halie Carter

Every Wednesday, Lehigh Athletics, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health is proud to recognize a Mountain Hawk Hero - someone associated with Lehigh Athletics who is making a difference in the medical field. We continue today with track and field alum Halie Carter '15.

Previous Mountain Hawk Heroes
November 25: Sarah Cassidy (Track and Field Alum)
November 18: Shannon Alejandro (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
November 11: Simon Voorhees (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
November 4: Michael Metzger (Men's Lacrosse Alum)
October 28: Jen (Lance) Sikorski (Rowing Alum)
October 21: Shannon Wright (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
October 14: Darren Saks (Men's Soccer Alum)
October 7: Jenny Warner Southard (Track and Field Alum)
September 30: Taylor Wise (Swimming and Diving Alum)
September 23: Matt Christman (Track and Field Alum)
September 16: Steph Fratoni (Field Hockey Alum)
September 9: Mike Price (Swimming and Diving Alum)
September 2: Yasmin Deliz (Track and Field Alum)
August 26: Evan Guerrero (Men's Lacrosse Alum)
August 19: Ross Biggs (Baseball Alum)
August 12: Cynthia Izuno Macri (Soccer Alum)
August 5: Susan Westman (Rowing Student-Athlete)
July 29: Megan Hetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 22: Lexi Martins (Women's Basketball Alum)
July 15: Nii Daako-Darko (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 8: Ali Linsk Butash (Softball Alum)
July 1: Kimberly Scotto-Wetzel & Jonathan Wetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alums)
June 24: Robert Bonow (Men's Basketball Alum)
June 17: Morgan Decker (Softball Alum)
June 10: Jim Guzzo (Former Quarterback)
June 3: Amina Affini (Women's Basketball Alum)
May 27: Natalie Krane (Women's Soccer Alum)
May 20: Tricia Klein (Women's Golf Assistant Coach)

By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications

A diagnosis at a young age helped spark Halie Carter's interest in medicine.

"I have kidney disease," said the former Lehigh track and field captain. "Luckily, it's fairly low grade. I'm living a day-to-day life with no issues. I was very interested in medicine from a young age because of that.

"I had a really, really fantastic pediatric nephrologist," Carter continued. "He was actually part of the reason I was able to continue my athletic career and run at Lehigh with the kidneys I have."

Carter's nephrologist, Dr. Demetrius Ellis, was more than just a doctor. He was a true difference maker.

"He was brilliant and the reason I've been able to do everything I've wanted to do," said Carter. "To this day, I'm still not limited. I'm living a completely normal life; I just have to see a nephrologist once a year."

Carter wanted to become like Dr. Ellis (a difference maker) to others.

"I first become interested in medicine around middle school," she said. "I wanted to build the first artificial implantable kidney as a bioengineer, just because I knew how few and far between kidney transplants were. I was never to that point of needing one, but I wanted to help the world and make it better for people who had more unfortunate circumstances than me."
Halie Carter

An implementable kidney was pretty ambitious and not practical, but physician assistant school was very attainable. Dr. Ellis actually brought up the idea of PA school.

"He said he thought PA would be the way to go in the future," said Carter.

One perk of being a PA is not needing to specialize right out of school.

"I love my job. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it, but if I do, I could shift to another focus," said Carter. "I could do cardiology, go back to the ER or do whatever I want without needing to go back to school."

Currently, Carter is an orthopedic trauma physician assistant in Greenville, South Carolina.

"We're now Prisma Health and one of the only level one trauma hospitals between Charlotte and Atlanta," she said. "We get all the really bad car accidents, people falling off roofs and ladders. We deal with all types of broken bones and orthopedic injuries. We deal with various infections, a lot of hip fractures and fractures sustained from simple falls."

As a PA, Carter isn't typically in surgery.

"But I get to go around the hospital and respond to the consultations and traumas," she said. "I reduce the dislocated joints, ankle fractures and wrist fractures – all the casting, splinting and realigning bones before they go to the operating room. We also manage the patients, including those on the inpatient side as well."

Carter is part of one big medical care team, much like her time with the Mountain Hawks' track and field program.

After graduating from Lehigh in 2015 as a bioengineering major, Carter spent a summer doing research, but realized it wasn't for her.

"I wanted to be in the medical field using the devices instead of making them," she said. "Thankfully and luckily, I was able to do all my prerequisites and went straight into PA school at Long Island University, Brooklyn.

"I did my rotations all through Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City," Carter continued. "It was amazing, but I'm not a big city girl, so I ended up in Greenville."

Prior to working in orthopedic trauma this past year, Carter was in the ER with the same hospital system in South Carolina.

"Right after PA school, I graduated, passed my test in December and started working in the ER in March," she said. "Coming out of PA school, we're trained to treat everything. I didn't want to lose everything I had learned, so I started in the ER where you literally see and do everything."

After a year and a half in the ER, Carter felt ready to specialize. Her background as a high-level athlete drew her to orthopedics.

"Having been an athlete, especially in track – and with my own share of injuries through the years – I always loved orthopedics," she said.

In high school, Carter competed in both track and soccer.

"I got a pretty bad injury in my shin, so had to pick one and picked track," she said. "I ended up tearing my hamstring twice at Lehigh, my junior and senior years. Being involved in physical therapy, the doctors themselves helped me understanding everything."
Halie Carter

As part of Carter's prerequisite for PA school, she also worked with a physical therapist.

"That featured diving into the muscles, tendons and ligaments… everything you could want orthopedic-wise," she said. "I loved the experience."

One reason Carter loves what she does is that team and family feel.

"At Lehigh, we were a very big team, all striving for excellence," said Carter. "My role right now is pretty similar. I work with a lot of the resident physicians very closely and they're constantly rotating every couple of months, but we work as one big team. It's a ton of communication because we don't want to miss anything with a patient."

Carter was a two-time captain at Lehigh, which helped her gain a number of important leadership skills.

"Just having that leadership role as a captain has translated into what I'm doing now," she said. "Maybe it's a terrible injury that I need to either communicate to the patient or even another medical care team (trauma surgery, ER, etc.). We communicate to do what's best for the patient."

Lehigh head track and field coach Matt Utesch is not surprised by Carter's success as a communicator, leader and person.

"Halie was a super team member and team leader, always with such a great smile and upbeat," he said. "We always talk about leading yourself here at Lehigh, but that should grow into leading others.

"Halie figure that out early and has applied it directly to her life and her work."

Carter has experienced both sides of medicine – as a medical professional and patient. She can certainly empathize with her patients, which includes the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict visitation restrictions.

"At first, our hospital wasn't allowing any visitors," said Carter. "This was especially hard on our patients and their families. We were calling families as much as we could with updates and to answer questions, but it's not the same as having family members present in person.

"The patients who were discharging home could finally see their families and friends, but for the patients who require rehab, those facilities have very strict visiting policies too," Carter continued. "If they don't allow visitors, it could be months before that patient sees family and friends again. I can't even imagine how difficult that is."

Carter brings more than medical knowledge and ability to her role, but most importantly, the human element. For everything Carter has done for so many people, she feels like she could always be doing more.

"We deal with patients who are sometimes involved in the absolute worst accidents of their lives," she said. "It's not their fault and they end up breaking almost every single bone in both their legs or upper extremities, and we're the ones who have to manage that. I like being able to spend the time with the patients, really trying to explain what's going on.
Halie Carter

"No matter how busy the day was, my pediatric nephrologist would sit down and answer all our questions and genuinely care, which made all the difference. We didn't feel like a number."

Carter hopes she can be a small glimmer of light for patients during what could be the most challenging days of their lives. That compassion, care and empathy isn't taught in school. They're innate qualities, which are also fostered through life experiences such as Carter's time at Lehigh.

"Part of the reason I picked Lehigh was I immediately felt like the team was a big family," said Carter. "Coach Matt (Utesch) is the head track and field coach and Coach Deb (Utesch) is the head women's cross country coach. How could you get more of a family atmosphere than that?

"Everyone at Lehigh pushed me to be the best I could possibly be, helping me grow and become the person I am today," she continued.

Carter admits there's a lot from her experience that's molded her into the physician assistant she is today, including the Leadership Development program (now called Flight 45).

"You can't walk into a trauma and not have a leadership role," she said. "You've got to speak up and let people know what you need. At Lehigh, I had all the support from my team, and now I feel like I have the support from all my residents and all my attending physicians. They care and want to help.

"I was very blessed to have the track team at Lehigh, my friends at PA school and my family throughout all of this.

"I'm in a job where I'm supported by everyone."

Think back to Carter's initial interest in medicine. She may not be building the first artificial implantable kidney, but she is certainly making a difference – much like Dr. Ellis did for her.

"I like to be up and moving," said Carter. "I've always been active, I was a sprinter in track and don't like to sit down and be still. I get to see things, learn things and have my hands on things every day.

"I really couldn't ask for anything more."

Lehigh University Athletics

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at NCAA East Regionals on May 28, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at ECAC/IC4A Championships on May 16, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at Patriot League Championships on May 2, 2025 , , 6th of 10

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field versus Carol & John Covert Classic on April 25, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at Penn Relays on April 24, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at Virginia Challenge on April 18, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Women's Track and Field at Coach Pollard Invite on April 18, 2025 ,

Mountain Hawk Heroes: Track and Field Alum Halie Carter

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