Grants will build rural training pathways and help deliver health care closer to home for North Carolinians
RALEIGH, N.C. – The University of North Carolina System has awarded over $6.4 million in state-funded grants to help its universities, North Carolina Area Health Education Centers, and rural hospitals expand and establish new rural health care workforce training programs.
The funding comes from the UNC System Rural Residency Medical Education and Training Fund, established by the North Carolina General Assembly in the 2023 State Appropriations Act. The goal of the fund is clear: use flexible state dollars to train more health care providers in rural North Carolina and connect them to the communities that need them most.
More than $4.4 million dollars from that fund will support 21 grants that feature interprofessional student training across several disciplines, including medicine, nursing, clinical psychology, social work, speech language pathology, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and dentistry. Another $1.3 million will support the development of a rural family medicine residency program at UNC Health Blue Ridge in Morganton, and a rural general surgery program partnership between Southeastern Area Health Education Center and Novant Health in Pender and Brunswick counties.
“Educating doctors, nurses, and health professionals to serve our state is one of the University’s most important responsibilities,” said UNC System President Peter Hans. “Every North Carolinian deserves quality care close to home, and we are committed to that mission. “
Other grant-funded projects build new training pathways around the state.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Military Education Immersion Center will use $200,000 to create rural training tracks for military health care professionals to work with surgical residents and physician assistant graduates, helping more providers gain experience at rural UNC Health hospitals where there are staffing shortages.
Several grants address behavioral health and substance use treatment. UNC Pembroke received nearly $400,000 to help more social workers treat people with substance use disorders in southeastern North Carolina.
In the high country, Appalachian State University and Mountain Area Health Education Center’s rural family medicine program will use nearly $200,000 to train family medicine residents alongside graduate nursing students and others in a clinic that cares for children with behavioral and developmental needs. This experience prepares graduate students and family medicine residents to confidently care for young patients in areas that lack pediatricians.
As part of this initiative, the UNC System Office will partner with the Sheps Center to provide technical assistance to grantees. Rural workforce outcomes will also be tracked and evaluated.