North Carolina
Improving Health
Developing Leaders
Creating Change
J. Bradley Wilson Schweitzer Fellows Adam Robinson and Glenn Baldwin, UNC School of Dentistry
Adam and Glenn launched Complete Smiles to restore the smiles, confidence, and dignity to people without teeth by providing high quality complete and partial dentures to vulnerable community members at no cost at the CAARE Clinic.
NC Fellows Anna Laughman & Emily Cunningham, ECU Brody School of Medicine
Anna and Emily partnered with the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute and Greene County Medical Center to provide pesticide safety education to farmworkers and healthcare providers in rural eastern NC.
NC Fellows Stephanie Ngo & Trevor Dickey, Duke School of Medicine
Stephanie and Trevor created a Duke Chapter of the Refugee Health Initiative which continues to serve families today. Teams of students conduct longitudinal home visits to help families navigate the health care system and learn valuable life skills.
NC Fellow Zhaojing Liu
NCCU Communication Sciences and Disorders
For children growing up with more than one language in the home, it is important to encourage their bilingual abilities in the early years. Fellow Zhaojing Liu partnered with the NCCU Bilingual Spanish Clinic to add a Chinese language component transforming it into a trilingual clinic.
Abby Peoples, Wake Forest School of Medicine
Abby launched a free volunteer doula program to ensure laboring moms can get the physical and emotional support they need during the birthing process. A team of 24 volunteers were trained who provided care to 22 patients.
NC Fellow Rebecca Flint, UNC School of Medicine
Rebecca led a series of workshops for Latino patients with chronic illness. As a result, participants had striking improvements in their health such as being able to stop medications, lose weight and gain control of their disease.
Our Impact
The NC Albert Schweitzer Fellowship is one of 10 chapters across the U.S. dedicated to addressing health disparities and social justice issues today and developing the next generation of health care leaders.
NC Schweitzer Fellows are competitively chosen from graduate health professional students enrolled in major NC universities who demonstrate a passion for creating positive change in under resourced communities.
William “Billy” Fischer, M.D.
2001 NC Schweitzer Fellow and 2003 Lambaréné Schweitzer Fellow and NCASF Board Member
Dr. Fischer serves as an Associate Professor and Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Dr Fischer is also the Director of Emerging Pathogens for the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at UNC SOM. He is also a member of the WHO Epidemic Clinical Management Team, the WHO Antiviral Working Group, the WHO Personal Protective Equipment End-User’s Advisory Council, the WHO Advisory Committee on Infection, Prevention, and Control, and was a member of the CDC Ebola Response Team.
George Adams, M.D.
1997 NC Fellow for Life and NCASF Board Member
Dr. Adams is a world-renowned interventional cardiologist and a leading pioneer in vascular interventions. In addition to his clinical role at UNC REX, he is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Director of Cardiovascular and Peripheral Vascular Research at UNC REX Hospital.
Benjamin Gilmer, MD
2002 NC Schweitzer Fellow and 2004 Lambaréné Schweitzer Fellow and NCASF Board Member
Dr. Gilmer is a family physician and Associate Professor at the UNC School of Medicine and Mountain Area Health Education Center’s (MAHEC) Family Medicine Residency Program. As the Medical Director for MAHEC’s Rural Health Initiative and Rural Fellowship, he is passionate about addressing global and rural health disparities. His latest advocacy work highlights the atrocity of the mass incarceration of people with mental illness which is the focus of his non-fiction book, The Other Dr. Gilmer. Two Men, A Murder, And An Unlikely Fight For Justice.
Amanda Stroud, DMD
2012 NC Schweitzer Fellow for Life and NCASF Board Member
As the Dental Director for AppHealthCare, which serves Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga counties, Dr. Stroud directly addresses the oral health disparities often seen in the western part of the state. Dr. Stroud’s passion for public health leads her to take part in numerous committees including the NC Council on Prevention and Oral Health and the NC Community Health Association’s Dental Directors workgroup. She also served as the past President of the NC Dental Society Foundation Board.
Tiffany Covas, MD, MPH
2011 NC Schweitzer Fellow for Life and NCASF Board Member
Dr. Covas is a family physician at Duke Family Medicine Center, with a focus on maternal and child health and LGBTQ+ patients. Her advocacy efforts led to her spearheading the expansion of the clinical practice to include an LGBTQ+ Patient Centered Medical Home. Dr. Covas is also an Assistant Professor at Duke School of Medicine.
Melissa A. Green, MPH
2000 NC Schweitzer Fellow for Life and NCASF Board Member
Ms. Green is the Deputy Director for Recruitment and Communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars National Leadership Program which helps interdisciplinary teams tackle complex health problems in their communities. As a public health practitioner, she applies principles of community partnership and community engaged research practices to advance health equity research for diverse racial, under-resourced, rural, and African American and Latinx populations.