Covia L. Stanley

Covia Stanley has served coastal South Carolina as a physician and a minister for the past 20 years. A native of Brunswick County, N.C., he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology/chemistry from N.C. Central University in Durham; a master’s degree in parasitology from North Carolina Central University; and a medical degree from the University of Buffalo. He also earned a master of divinity degree from Virginia Union University.

Stanley is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves Medical Services Corps (OB/GYN). In 1998, he was named the medical director of Region 6 (Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties) of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Since retiring from this position in 2013, he has served as staff physician for the S.C. Department of Mental Health.

Since 1999, Stanley has served as pastor of the Mt. Calvary No. 1 Missionary Baptist Church in Conway and is moderator of the Kingston Lake Missionary Baptist Association. He is the recipient of many honors, including the James A. Hayne Award, the highest honor for public health in South Carolina.

Stanley was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Science from Coastal Carolina University during the December 2017 commencement.