Nine East Carolina University Health Sciences students (three in the School of Dentistry and six in the Brody School of Medicine) have been named to the 2024-25 class of North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellowships (NCASF).
The students, who are part of a group of 29 fellows from across the state, will spend the next year learning how to effectively address social factors that impact health while developing lifelong leadership skills. You will learn. This year's class includes a total of 29 NC students from medicine, dentistry, nursing, occupational therapy, and business.
Kayla Gorham
ECU members include Baldwin Bell, Kayla Gorham, and Maya Grimes from the School of Dentistry, Kristen Armell, Taylor Stamey, Maina Tirupattur, Karlin Ureel, and Aliya Young from the Brody School of Medicine. and Mohsen Zakaib.
“Schweitzer Fellows are not assigned a project or directed to address a specific health need,” said Barbara Heffner, executive director of the North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Ta. “They follow their passion and community needs to develop innovative approaches to fill gaps in our health care system.”
With service as part of both the ECU School of Dentistry and the School of Medicine, students from each school traditionally complete or contribute to community-wide programs that enrich the lives of patients and people across our focus programs. While fulfilling their academic responsibilities, Schweitzer Fellows develop and implement service projects that address the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities. Each project is implemented in partnership with a community-based organization.
gorhamThe company, a Schweitzer Fellow at the BCBSNC Foundation, plans to launch a baby oral health program to connect infants under one year of age with dental care. She will work under mentors Dr. Taneet Gorman and Dr. Mark Moss, and her project base will be in ECU Health Pediatrics and ECU Pediatric Dentistry.
baldwin bell
maya grimes
bell and grimes will lead the Mouthguard Project, which provides oral health education and free custom-made mouthguards to middle school athletes. They will be working with Welcome Junior High School and AB Aycock Junior High School under the guidance of Drs. Tanito Guman and Luis Sensi, site mentors Kendrick Parker and JP Harrell.
meena tirupattur
karlin woolly
Tirupattur and wool reel meets the fall prevention needs of older adults by providing fall and environmental risk assessments, conducting individual counseling sessions, and leading classes on balance issues. Their sites include the Pitt County Council on Aging and his ECU Family Medicine Division of Geriatrics. Their mentors include Dr. Cedric Bright and Dr. Candice Borunda.
Woolill, who has a graduate degree in gerontology, said the opportunity to become a fellow and complete a project will allow her to explore caring for patients at different stages of their lives.
kristen armell
Taylor Stamey
amel and SQuiet We will develop medical respite and employability programs for people experiencing homelessness. They will work through the Community Crossroads Center under the guidance of Drs. David Collier and Janet Moye.
aliya young
Mohsen Zakaib
young and Zakaib We will hold a workshop to improve health literacy among refugee families in Syria and Colombia. They will work through Interfaith Refugee Ministries, the Islamic Society of Eastern North Carolina, and the Islamic Society of Eastern North Carolina, under the leadership of Dr. Brandon Kyle, Susan Hasson, and Mohammad Shams.
NC Schweitzer Fellowships are supported by North Carolina Foundation BlueCross and BlueShield, North Carolina Delta Dental, Duke University School of Medicine, ECU Brody School of Medicine, ECU Health, North Carolina AHEC, North Carolina Central University Graduate School, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative, and Wake Forest University. Faculty of Health Sciences, and private donors.
NCASF began in 1994 as a local branch of the national nonprofit Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and has trained more than 634 health care leaders. Nationwide, more than 4,000 U.S. Schweitzer Fellows continue to serve, shape health policy, and provide direct services to individuals and communities in need. There are 13 active programs in the United States, and he selects more than 200 fellows across the country each year.
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