When Sharon Roberts walks into Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center with her 90-pound golden retriever, Sally Mae, people don’t see a clinical educator coordinator or a leadership development expert. They see a friendly dog with her human who has a gift for bringing comfort to people on some of their hardest days.

But Sally Mae’s work as a therapy dog is just one reflection of Roberts’ own passion: learning, growing and finding new ways to make a difference. Over more than three decades at Novant Health, Roberts has followed her curiosity from her training as a speech language pathologist to leadership development and now to helping others grow as healthcare professionals and leaders.

Today, as Novant Health’s rehabilitation clinical educator coordinator, she serves as a liaison between universities and Novant Health clinics, hospitals and acute care centers, working as a facilitator, coach and organizer for the hospital’s rehabilitation team. Her background in HR and leadership development helps her support leaders and team members within the rehabilitation department, where patients receive therapy to help with recovery after an illness, surgery or other major health event.

“What’s so nice about the health field,” she said, “is that when you’re ready for a change, there are opportunities to make one.”

An ‘unheard of’ benefit

Roberts enjoys being a student as much as she does being a facilitator. So, Novant Health’s Future Forward program was practically made for her. It offers up-front tuition coverage for more than 1,000 online learning options for courses, certifications and traditional degrees. Full-time Novant Health team members are allotted up to $5,200 a year to explore thousands of courses. Part-timers can enroll, too, and receive up to $2,625 each year.

It’s a perk that’s proven popular. When Future Forward launched in August 2025, nearly 1,500 Novant Health teammates signed up for a class during the first month. Less than one year later, 7,653 teammates have registered to learn a new skill or work toward an undergraduate or graduate degree — “from top-tier colleges and institutions,” Roberts said.

She took a course called Developing Emerging Leaders through INSEAD Business School that began in September 2025 and led to her latest certification in January.

“It was offered internationally, so it was entirely online,” she said. “Hundreds of people across the globe were taking it, and it was quite the experience. We met in small groups across all these different time zones. It might be 6 a.m. my time and midnight for someone else. At one point somebody asked me, ‘What led you to take this course?’”

She told them Novant Health offers this benefit, and they pay for it in advance.

“Everyone was flabbergasted and said, ‘That’s unheard of,’” she said. “It was powerful feedback; it reinforced how fortunate we are to have this benefit.”

Something else that motivated Roberts? Courses you enroll in “don’t have to directly relate to your job,” she said. In this case, the emerging leaders course was relevant to her role. But she’s interested in other courses just for the joy of learning something new. She’s considered “Leading teams,” “Manager essentials in healthcare,” “Achieving success with difficult people” and “Introduction to being agile.”

Roberts' love of learning even extends beyond her own professional development. It inspired her to personally invest in training Sally Mae to become a therapy dog — a specially trained dog that provides comfort and emotional support to people in settings such as hospitals, schools and nursing homes.

Working like a dog

Sally Mae started “school” when she turned 2. A trainer came to the Roberts’ house once a week for a full year for one-on-one sessions. Before a dog can become certified, it has to prove it can remain calm in loud and crowded places. Sally Mae was tested around kids in parks and in tight, crowded spaces like the aisles of warehouse stores. She also had to be tested around people in wheelchairs and on walkers and crutches.

She aced every test.

It’s a role she seems born for. “She’s a 90-pound lapdog,” Roberts said. “Goldens want to be next to a person all the time; it’s just their nature. When I'm working, she’s sleeping right at my feet at my desk. If we have people over, she excitedly greets them. Goldens are instinctively compassionate.”

Roberts volunteers with Sally Mae at New Hanover Regional Medical Center for a couple of hours on weekends, visiting the intensive care unit and medical floors in search of patients who need a few minutes of unconditional love. Although Roberts works for Novant Health, these visits are entirely separate from her job.

Sally Mae knows she’s going to work when her mom puts her in her personalized therapy dog vest.

“We walk the halls, and I’ll ask if anybody wants some free love,” Roberts said. “She’ll sit, shake or lie down on command, but mostly, she just likes to be close enough to someone to allow them to pet her. When we go to the ICU, the nurses will usually say, ‘We were hoping Sally Mae would come today.’”

Nurses will often let Roberts know if a patient has had a hard day and could use some canine companionship. Patients can also request a visit from a therapy dog. When Roberts and Sally Mae sign in for duty, she checks the clipboard to see if anyone has requested a visit. She’s also seen handwritten notes on the outside of patients’ rooms that read, “Wake me up if you’re a therapy dog.”

Roberts is happy to see how patients, their families and staff react to her dog. “You feel like you’re contributing something,” she said. “We’re bringing a little bit of joy to people who could use some. Nobody asks to be in the hospital, so to see the smiles Sally Mae brings out in people is really worthwhile.”

As much as Sally Mae loves attention, she has her limits. Roberts can tell when she’s tired; she usually starts to head for the elevator. When they get home, Sally Mae is rewarded with an ice cream “pup cup” before a long nap.

When she’s off duty, Sally Mae’s just a regular dog. Once her working vest comes off, she knows she doesn’t need to be as docile as she is on the job. She’ll often lead Roberts on their walks, and Roberts allows her to. “She’s got to just be a dog sometimes, so we let her do that,” she said. “But she becomes a different dog when she puts that vest on.”

Sally Mae brings her best self to the job. There’s a lesson in that for people who aspire to be leaders in the workplace.

‘Leadership is a mindset’

In the Emerging Leaders program for rehabilitation team members, which Roberts created and has facilitated for the past three years, she often says that the two most important skills a leader needs are a positive mindset and self-awareness.

Program participants are front-line rehab team members with a desire to learn more about leadership and move into leadership positions. The program is highly competitive; only about 18 people across all regions are accepted each year.

Roberts also tells people that leadership isn’t reserved just for executives or those who have people reporting to them. We all have the capacity to lead. “It’s not a title,” she said. “A leader is somebody who influences, motivates and connects with team members to help them feel valued and supported. Leadership is a mindset.”

She credits her natural curiosity with going from speech pathologist to a leadership development proponent. Before she asks a question, she’ll often lead with one of her favorite phrases: “I’m curious.”

Curiosity is another quality she thinks is essential for leaders.

A lifelong learner and self-described “work in progress,” Roberts strives to live out her personal mission statement: “Every interaction is an opportunity to have a positive impact on someone.”

She’s undoubtedly had a positive impact on countless people at Novant Health over more than three decades. And it’s been reciprocal. “I’ve been here 32 years, and I would say Novant Health raised me to a certain extent,” she said. “I've had opportunities to interact with and learn from some truly exceptional leaders.”