The NC AHEC Program Office has awarded $549,904 in 2018-19 AHEC Campus Innovation Grants, supporting 18 new, multidisciplinary initiatives.

AHEC Campus Innovation Grants are awarded annually to UNC-Chapel Hill academic partners to promote innovation in education. A multidisciplinary team comprised of NC AHEC Program Office staff and AHEC liaisons to health affairs schools reviewed this year’s applications. The team selected 18 winning proposals based on relevance to NC AHEC’s mission and to one or more themes outlined in the 2018-19 request for proposals:

• Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions Workforce,
• Expanding Opiate Education,
• Getting Our Learners Ready for Medicaid Reform, and
• Clinical Site Development in Tier 1 & 2 Counties (as designated by the NC Department of Commerce).

This year’s winning proposals cover a variety of topics, from food insecurity to meeting the needs of individuals with autism living in rural North Carolina. The complete list of winning proposals is provided below.

“First Generation Center: A Partnership Program Supporting First-Generation Students in Medical School”
PI: Meredith Bazemore, MPA, Program Director, School of Medicine Office of Rural Initiatives
Amount Funded: $29,050

“Health Careers and Research Pipeline Initiative for Males (HCRPI-M)”
PI: Rosalyn Beecham-Green, PhD, Director, Carolina Higher Education Opportunity Programs (CHEOP)/Director, NC Health Careers Access Program (NC-HCAP)
Amount Funded: $17,000

“The Health Affairs Partnership Pipeline Initiative (HAPPI) Road Shows”
PI: Paula Borden, PhD, Associate Director, Carolina Higher Education Opportunity Programs (CHEOP)/Associate Director, NC Health Careers Access Program (NC-HCAP)
Amount Funded: $30,000

“Caring for the LGBTQ Community: Development of a Unified Curricula for Our Primary Care Residents”
PI: Mallory McClester Brown, MD, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine Family Medicine
Amount Funded: $24,763

“Preparing Residents to Communicate with Pediatric Patients and Their Parents about Opioids”
PI: Delesha Carpenter, PhD, MSPH, Assistant Professor, Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Amount Funded: $45,007

“Autism ECHO: Meeting the Needs of Individuals with Autism Living in Rural North Carolina”
PI: Nicole Dreiling, Associate Director, School of Medicine, TEACCH Autism Program
Amount Funded: $44,800

“Dental and Oral Health Community Scholars Program”
PI: Sylvia A. Frazier-Bowers, DDS, PhD, Associate Professor of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry
Amount Funded: $34,260

“Refugee Health and Wellness: An Interprofessional (IPE) and Cross-Campus Project”
PI: Quentin Joshua Hinson, MSW, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Amount Funded: $24,300

“Food Insecurity: Increasing Awareness by Providers and Connecting Food Insecure Older Adults to Community Resources”
PI: Amanda Holliday, MS, RD, LDN, Clinical Assistant Professor, Gillings School of Public Health Department of Nutrition/Director, Practice Advancement and Continuing Education Division
Amount Funded: $28,731

“Nurse Practitioner Operated Practice Partnership for FNP Clinical Site Development”
PI: Sara L. Hubbell, APRN, MSN, DNP, NP-C, FCN, Assistant Professor and FNP Lead Faculty, MSN Division, School of Nursing
Amount Funded: $12,669

“Creative Design in Tier 1 and Tier 2 County Clinical Sites: Identifying Actionable Solutions”
PI: Jacqui McLaughlin, PhD, Assistant Professor and Director of Educational Research & Scholarship, Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Amount Funded: $36,923

“Preparing Dentists for Medicaid Reform: Planning Oral Health Policy, Advocacy and Leadership Curriculum Revolution within the School of Dentistry”
PI: Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH, School of Dentistry
Amount Funded: $39,728

“RN Community Faculty Fellows: Train the Trainer, Rural Clinical Site Development”
PI: Betty Nance-Floyd, PhD, RN, CNE, CNL, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing/Director, Center for Lifelong Learning
Amount Funded: $36,714

“Enhancing Training in Population Health across NC AHEC Campuses”
PI: Deborah S. Porterfield, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, School of Medicine Family Medicine
Amount Funded: $31,386

“Enhancing Interdisciplinary Opioid Stewardship: Education & Training to Mitigate Postoperative Risk”
PI: Kimberly Sanders, PharmD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Eschelman School of Pharmacy
Amount Funded: $43,398

“UNC Collaborative to Increase Diversity to Improve Allied Health (CIDIA)”
PI: Linn Wakeford, PhD, OTR/L, Associate Professor, School of Medicine Department of Allied Health Sciences, Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
Amount Funded: $26,200

“Campus Collaboration for Recruitment to Support Future Interprofessional Workforce Needs”
PI: Meg Zomorodi, PhD, RN, CNL, Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Amount Funded: $30,173

“An Interdisciplinary ‘Picture of the Day’ Curriculum for Education in the Newborn Nursery”
PI: Eric Zwemer, MD, School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics
Amount Funded: $14,802