Evan Ashkin, MD, professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, served as a co-guest editor for the November issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal, along with David Rosen, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, and Duke University’s, Elizabeth Gifford, PhD. Numerous UNC faculty are published in the issue, which focuses on health and the criminal justice system. Ashkin is the founder of the Formerly Incarcerated Transition (FIT) Program, which aims to help recently released inmates with chronic illnesses to receive proper medical care upon rejoining their communities.
Ashkin, Rosen and Gifford wrote the issue brief, “Overwhelming Need, Insufficient Health Care for Justice-involved North Carolinians,” highlights the detrimental impact of lack of appropriate care during incarceration and failure to connect with necessary medical and social services upon release.
Rosen et al published on the prevalence of chronic diseases among people released from the North Carolina prison system, They found that one in three had a chronic health condition, and that coordination of health care services after release is critical in avoiding complications and unnecessary need of acute care.
Ashkin’s Formerly Incarcerated Transition (FIT) Program was featured in “Spotlight on the Safety Net,” which highlights how the FIT Program connects individuals released from incarceration to the health care services they need.
This month’s issue of NCMJ can be accessed here.
Several other UNC faculty members were published in the issue, including Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Social Medicine, Gary Cuddeback, PhD, director of the Community Outcomes Research and Evaluation Center and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Sara Scarlet, MD, a resident in the UNC Department of Surgery and member of the UNC Center for Bioethics, Elizabeth Dreesen, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery and Associate Chief Medical Officer for UNC Health Care, and Andrea Knittel, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Brinkley-Rubenstein and Cuddeback are fellows at the Cecil G. Sheps Center of Health Services Research.