September 2020

Welcome to “The Scope,” the newsletter of the ECU Division of Health Sciences.

As the fall semester continues, the Division of Health Sciences has met the challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic head-on. It is heartening to witness the ingenuity and the dedication to finding solutions that our faculty, staff and students have shown to date.

Dr. Mark Stacy

Stringent adherence to safety protocols contributed to all of the division’s colleges and schools graduating their students who were scheduled to graduate in May. This was a major achievement for all of us, and it signals our capacity for success regardless of obstacles.

While we were not immune to the health crisis that has impacted the finances of institutions across the state and nation, it has been encouraging to witness signs of our division’s recovery and resourcefulness in an increase in telehealth visits—our patients and our communities continue to rely on us for their health-care needs, even as some of our services come in alternate delivery methods. We are proving that ECU is an institution that values technology and its possibilities for the health of North Carolina.

That emphasis on evolving movements toward telehealth will continue to serve all of us well.

There have also been many positive strides in upholding our missions of service to eastern North Carolina. Part of mirroring those missions through action is upholding and exemplifying a sense of equality and diversity not only on our campus but in our communities. In light of ongoing unrest across the country in wake of persistent injustices, we can no longer tolerate anything other than the highest standards in seeking liberty and equality for all of those around us—in health care and in daily life. It is up to each and every one of us to do our part.

The last several months have been long, but also remarkable. I think the experience is going to allow us change for the better in 2021, and I look forward to the innovations born of necessity during this pandemic. I believe this new perspective will allow us to be much stronger to our mission, we will be much better prepared to listen to each other, to address changes for the betterment of our community and to increase inclusion and equity for people from all backgrounds.

This edition of The Scope celebrates a united effort in excellence and in stewardship of resources that can multiply our division’s successes—through research, education and patient care.

Join us and read on to learn more about how the Division of Health Sciences is serving our region and our state during times that we may not recognize, but those in which we continue to thrive.

Mark Stacy, MD
Dean, Brody School of Medicine
Vice Chancellor, Division of Health Sciences

Education

The College of Nursing celebrated an award that has become a mainstay for it in recent years. The CON, which is observing its 60^th anniversary this year, was honored with its fourth straight designation as a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing. The College of Nursing was one of 11 schools recognized in the areas of Enhanced Student Learning and Professional Development.

A College of Nursing student works in the simulation lab.

The Division of Health Sciences and its colleges and schools mark seasons and semesters with traditions new and old. These annual events and activities provide current students a sense of time and place on their journeys toward health sciences careers.

One of the most popular traditions is Dr. Tom Irons’ oral history bus tour for new Brody School of Medicine students. After 20 years as an in-person event, the tour went virtual this summer but was met with the same enthusiasm as in years past. Irons shared stories about locations and neighborhoods in Greenville that tell the story of the community’s history, people and health status.

Several current ECU dental students are leveraging their positions as N.C. Schweitzer Fellows to share vital information on oral and overall health by having their op-eds published in the Greenville, Washington and Elizabeth City newspapers.

Several division faculty and staff members were also recently in the spotlight for awards and honors. The American Health Information Management Association honored Dr. Susie Harris, professor in health services and information management in the College of Allied Health Sciences, with the Triumph Educator Award for her leadership and contributions to the next generation of health-care professionals.

LaMar Grafft, associate director of the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute, has been awarded the 2020 Maynard Coe Professional Achievement Award from the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health (ISASH). The award is the organization’s most prestigious honor and recognizes outstanding contributions to the agricultural safety and health industry.

As an anchor of information and resources for the Health Sciences Campus, Laupus Library is sponsoring a virtual roundtable discussion through its Diversity Committee titled, “Minority, Public and Rural Health Disparities.” The event is at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14 on Microsoft Teams and will include panelists Dr. Eric Bailey, professor of public health and anthropology; Dr. Ronny Bell, chair and professor of the Department of Public Health; and Dr. Karlene Cunningham, clinical assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral medicine. To register or learn more, please email blossj19@ecu.edu by Oct. 9.

Video of Dr. Irons’ bus tour from 2018. Visit this video on YouTube for the closed-captioned version.

Patient Care

Dentists who graduated this summer from the School of Dental Medicine’s residency programs shared what they learned during the once-in-a-lifetime experience of caring for patients during a pandemic to transitioning to professional posts in the same year. “Having grown up in a rural community, my goal has always been to stay in North Carolina and practice in a rural setting. My education and training at ECU were definitely instrumental in helping prepare me for this next chapter of my career,” said Dr. David Morrison, who earned his DMD and completed an advanced education in general dentistry residency at the SoDM. Morrison now practices at the Wilkes Public Health Dental Clinic in North Wilkesboro.

Dr. Kim Stokes, director of clinical education for the College of Allied Health Sciences’ Department of Physician Assistant Studies, is the principle investigator for a new grant that will work to seed more medical providers into the rural communities where they’re most needed. (Contributed photo taken pre-COVID-19)

ECU Physicians is making it easier and safer for patients as well as ECU students, faculty and staff to receive a flu vaccination. A drive-through flu vaccination clinic is being held between 7:30–11:30 a.m. every Monday and Thursday through Oct. 29, behind the Family Medicine Center. Walk-in clinics and daily vaccinations at ECU Physicians pharmacy locations are also being offered. Schedules, requirements and more information are available online. “Prevention of any condition is essential. It won’t prevent you from getting COVID-19, but it will reduce your chance of getting the flu which can mimic similar symptoms of COVID-19. Getting a flu shot reduces the burden of flu illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths on the health care system, conserving resources for the care of patients with COVID-19,” said Dr. Jason Foltz, chief medical officer of ECU Physicians.

The North Carolina Statewide Telepsychiatry Program (NC-SteP) was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand telehealth services in mental health to even more rural North Carolina communities. The program currently partners with 58 hospitals and has saved the state close to $32 million in unnecessary hospitalizations.

A new grant award will be put to work placing more medical providers into the rural areas in which they’re needed. HRSA recently awarded ECU’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies $1.2 million for the Physician Assistant Program Primary Care Training Enhancement grant. The interdisciplinary project includes faculty from other departments within the College of Allied Health Sciences, as well as the Brody School of Medicine, and emphasizes interprofessional collaboration among health care students to achieve better patient outcomes.

The project is one of many ongoing within ECU’s Division of Health Sciences working to increase the number of health care providers in rural, underserved areas and to provide interprofessional experience to students from a vast array of health care fields.

Other CAHS faculty are ensuring that community members and patients have access to healthy food. Dr. Lauren Sastre, assistant professor in nutrition science, led a group of students in collecting fresh vegetables for community members. The project was part of the Society for Saint Andrews Farm to Clinic (F2C) initiative; the group collected 340 pounds of sweet potatoes for patients through the partnership. Assistant professor Dr. Nicole Arnold advised the volunteers on food safety guidelines.

Research

The Brody School of Medicine will put the CARES Act funding it received from the N.C. General Assembly toward developing better treatments, advancing vaccine research and minimizing COVID-19’s impact in the region and state while contributing to the global body of knowledge about the novel coronavirus.

Jacob Hyatt performs COVID-19 research in a lab at the Brody School of Medicine. (Photo by Rhett Butler)

More than 20 different projects have received funding from the $15 million the school was granted by the state legislature for COVID-19 initiatives. The projects primarily fall into three categories related to COVID-19: treatments to enhance innate immunity to the virus, vaccine development and community testing initiatives. Other funded projects aim to support high-risk and rural populations in the region and advance efforts to slow transmission.

A researcher in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University has received a grant to study the human and environmental safety of NoPest, an ECU-created novel pesticide aimed at mosquito control. Dr. Lok Pokhrel, assistant professor in Brody’s Department of Public Health and the College of Health and Human Performance’s Department of Health Education and Promotion, was awarded $109,772 by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Dr. Patrick Briley, clinical researcher in the College of Allied Health Sciences’ Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was awarded an ECU Research and Creative Activities Grant for his project aimed toward increasing confidence levels of speech-language pathologists treating children who stutter, resulting in better services.

Dr. Keith Keene has been named director of the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities. He has served as the center’s interim director since 2018 and is also an associate professor in ECU’s Department of Biology. The center’s mission is to reduce health disparities of vulnerable populations and disadvantaged communities across the region through research, education and training, community engagement and outreach.

Dr. Ryan Wedge, assistant professor in CAHS’s Department of Physical Therapy, earned an ECU Research and Creative Activities Grant for his project, “In Silico Experiments to Understand Prioritization of Walking’s Multiple Objectives.” Wedge’s research will explore how the balance of various objectives lead to symmetrical patterns seen in able-bodied people.

Brody postdoctoral scholar Benjamin Hale received a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health,. The fellowship provides funding to promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields. Hale is studying how diet affects fertility.

DHS Spotlight

In the spirit of excellence in education and a collaborative campus, we will be highlighting a variety of students, staff and faculty who represent the colleges and schools in the Division of Health Sciences.

This month, we meet Jonathan Nowlin, a DMD candidate in the School of Dental Medicine’s Class of 2022.

Jonathan Nowlin. Photo by Rhett Butler

Whenever Jonathan Nowlin is in Ross Hall, he knows he’s home.

The ECU School of Dental Medicine student doesn’t take for granted any of the time he spends in the school’s home facility in Greenville. Nowlin graduated from ECU with a BS in public health studies; while he was working toward that degree, his ultimate goal was being accepted to the dental school.

“One thing that motivates me is something that a faculty member said at the start of my first year of dental school,” Nowlin said. “They said, ‘You guys are here for a reason. Out of all of the hundreds of applicants that applied for these 52 seats, we chose you.’ That has always stuck with me. Dental school is definitely not easy, but the fact that the admissions committee at the school saw something in me that made them believe I was capable of being successful in their program continues to keep me going.”

Nowlin also stays motivated because the school’s fourth-year curriculum sends students to rural communities across the state to serve patients in the school’s community service learning centers. That opportunity for exposure to real-world experience through the school excited Nowlin from the start and lends itself to his penchant for helping others.

“As a longtime resident of this state, I was excited about attending a dental school that recognizes the needs of our state’s underserved citizens since I’ve spent much of my life volunteering and trying to help others,” he said. “The community service learning centers are a great example of the school’s commitment to providing care to communities in need.”

It was a conversation with his orthodontist that originally placed Nowlin on the path toward dental school. During a routine visit, Nowlin asked the doctor what he enjoyed most about his career; his answer passed a proverbial torch on to Nowlin.

“My orthodontist helped me realize that my enjoyment of using my hands, my desire to challenge myself and my passion for helping others are all qualities of a good dentist,” he said. “After becoming a dental student, my decision to pursue this career has only solidified as I continue to learn everything this field has to offer and all of the different ways that I will be able to help improve people’s smiles in the future.”

Philanthropy

Three medical students at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine have been awarded the university’s most prestigious scholarship.

Michael Burt, Miranda Freeman and Heerali Patel – all North Carolina residents – have been chosen for the Class of 2024 Brody Scholar award, valued at approximately $115,000.

Class of 2024 Brody Scholars (left to right) Heerali Patel, Michael Burt and Miranda Freeman. Photo by Cliff Hollis.

Each student will receive four years of medical school tuition, living expenses and the opportunity to design his or her own summer enrichment program that can include travel abroad. The award will also support community service projects the students may undertake while in medical school.

Burt graduated Summa cum laude from North Carolina State University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

“Medicine has always been intellectually interesting and offers me the opportunity to take a hands-on role in improving people’s lives,” Burt said. “It seemed like the best fit for me, so I just went for it and it’s been great so far.”

Freeman graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2019 with a master’s degree in physiology.

“I realized during my time at UNC-Chapel Hill that it was imperative for Native communities to have Native physicians they could come to and rely upon,” she said. “It is important to me that there is an advocate for Native peoples and their health within the medical system who can also provide treatment and care.”

Patel is a Winston-Salem native who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and minor degrees in chemistry and neuroscience.

“I knew I wanted to become a physician in order to not only support my patients through their worst times,” she said, “but also commit to helping them improve their lives so that they can pursue their passions.”

A unique way to support Brody School of Medicine students is through the Brody White Coat Fund, which enables you to sponsor one or more students on their medical school journeys by funding their white coats. You’ll help welcome a new class of students to the Brody School of Medicine at ECU by helping us ensure that each student’s coat is sponsored.

Learn more about how you can support the mission of ECU’s Division of Health Sciences through the ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation, Inc.

Watch a closed-captioned version on YouTube.