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Dr. Evan Ashkin, professor of family medicine
Evan Ashkin, MD

The University Office for Diversity and Inclusion at UNC-Chapel Hill announced the recipients of the 11th annual Diversity Awards, which recognize individuals and groups that have furthered diversity, equity, and inclusion at Carolina and in the surrounding community. Two members of the UNC School of Medicine community were selected to receive awards: Evan Ashkin, MD, professor of family medicine, and Mariel Marshall, a graduate student of clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling in the department of allied health sciences.

Ashkin founded the Formerly Incarcerated Transition (FIT) Program to link people coming out of incarceration with needed primary care, mental health care and substance use disorder treatment. He is a physician at the Prospect Hill, North Carolina’s first community health center, and he is a regional medical director of Community Care of NC.

Marshall is president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. Part of her work includes ensuring that UNC-CH websites are diversity inclusive, creating a safe and accessible space for all forms of diversity, even beyond ethnicity and race. Read more about health care mission and check out a video here.

Here are other Diversity Award recipients:

Alumni – Howard Lee ’66, Chapel Hill’s mayor for three terms, Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, NC Senator for 10 years, Chairman of the NC State Board of Education and Executive Director of the NC Education Cabinet. In retirement, founded the Howard Lee Institute. He earned his master’s degree in social work from Carolina.

Staff – O.J. McGhee, manager, Instructional Media Services, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Faculty – Deb Aikat, PhD, associate professor, School of Media and Journalism.

Undergraduate Student – Jermaine Bryant (senior, Johns Creek, GA), a classics major.

Intergroup Collaboration – Diversity and Student Success in the Graduate School.

The Diversity Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, April 29, from 2-4 p.m. at the Current ArtSpace + Studio (123 W. Franklin Street). To RSVP, please click here (open until April 22).