Category: News

Caroline Roberts, MD, was awarded the 2025 Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award for Engaged Teaching at the 2025 UNC Public Service Awards Ceremony held in April. Dr. Roberts was honored for her dedicated service to rural health care access through her role as Director for Rural Education with...

From Matt Ewend, MD, Chief Clinical Officer of UNC Health and President of UNC Physicians: Following an extended and highly competitive search, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Amir Barzin has accepted the position of COO, UNC Health Physicians (UNCHP), effective April 28. The role fills the vacancy left by...

A qualitative study published in BMC Public Health, conducted by lead author Chineme Enyioha, MD, MPH, and colleagues, aimed to design effective communication strategies to support health warning labels (HWLs) on little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs), a tobacco product increasingly popular among young adults, particularly within Black communities. With nearly 9...

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Family Medicine, including Professor Leah Ranney, PhD, MA, Assistant Professor Sarah D. Kowitt, PhD, MPH, and authors Sonia A. Clark, MHA, and Kristen L. Jarman, MSPH, have published a pivotal study in a special issue of the American...

In a groundbreaking effort to advance dementia care across the United States, researchers from UNC Chapel Hill have partnered with Emory University, the University of Minnesota, Johns Hopkins University, Brown University, and the Alzheimer’s Association to establish the State Alzheimer’s Research Support (StARS) Center. This initiative, funded by a $17...

Emily M. Hawes, PharmD, BCPS, CPP, was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Hawes began a 3-year service term on September 5, 2024, and will also be serving on NRMP’s Data Review and Research Committee (DRRC), which oversees policies related...

FIT Wellness, part of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition (NC FIT) Program, is dedicated to supporting justice-involved individuals by providing comprehensive behavioral health services and substance abuse treatment for patients with Severe Mental Illness (SMI). Recently, FIT Wellness and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS),...

UNC Family Medicine is a partner in the UNC Center for Aging and Health’s Carolina Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (CGWEP), which received a $5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to enhance geriatric care across North Carolina over the next five years. The Carolina GWEP aims...

UNC Family Medicine Assistant Professor Nadja Vielot, PhD, was recently awarded a four-year K01 grant totaling over $620K by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The grant, “Developing and piloting an intervention to reduce human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination disparities in rural adolescents,”...

UNC Family Medicine faculty Leah Ranney, PhD, Sarah Kowitt, PhD, MPH, and team were recently rewarded a five-year, $2.9 million grant studying cannabis warnings. The award from the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will go towards research involving a legal analysis of existing cannabis warning regulations, interviews with...

The Department of Family Medicine has released its 2024 Annual Report, which highlights the accomplishments of our talented faculty, learners, and staff members in meeting our mission of exemplary patient care, education, research, and service to the people and communities of North Carolina and beyond. Thank you to all who...

The LEADoula program (formerly the Alliance for Black Doulas for Black Mamas) was an integral part of the WRAL documentary Critical Term: Why are Black Mothers and Babies Dying?, which recently won a regional Emmy Award. The documentary features LEADoula founders Venus Standard, MSN, CNM, (UNC Family Medicine, which hosts...

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services NCDHHS is investing $5.5 million to expand the FIT Wellness program, part of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program (NC FIT) led by Evan Ashkin, MD, in the UNC Department of Family Medicine. The investment aims to improve reentry services...

Assistant Professor of Family Medicine Jesus Ruiz, MD, has published an “Innovations in Primary Care” article in Annals of Family Medicine addressing the community impact on UNC Chatham Hospital’s Maternity Care Center. The article, “Closing the Gap: How a Community Effort Can Improve Rural Maternity Care,” addresses how UNC Chatham Hospital, a...