UPDATE – ERHD Graduate Certificate Online Program Starts

Here is my Global Photo
Welcome Everyone!

Greetings,
My name is Eric Bailey and I am Director & Professor of the new Ethnic & Rural Health Disparities Graduate Certificate Online Program at East Carolina University. I want to welcome you to this very innovative online certificate program. It is the first of its kind in the entire United States and we officially started on August 21st, 2010.

Update: Please feel free to check out my NEW 2020-2021 ERHD WELCOME ADDRESS!

Gainful Employment Disclosure

DEADLINE FOR FALL 2024 ADMISSION – MARCH 31st, 2024!

It’s that time of the year again. The deadline for Fall 2024 Admission to the ERHD Graduate Certificate Online program is at the end of the month – March 31st! I know it’s a very busy time for everyone yet if you are interested in our Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities courses and Certificate, please submit your documents to me via regular mail or email at: baileye@ecu.edu.

The major documents to be submitted are: (1) Letter of Interest, (2) Transcript, (3) GRE/MCAT scores, (4) Writing Sample, and (5) Recommendation Letter.

Upon receipt of your documents, I will forward your documents to our ERHD Admissions Committee for review and determination of the acceptance of each applicant. If you are having any difficulty in submitting your documents by the due date, please inform Dr. Eric Bailey – baileye@ecu.edu

Welcome to 2024 and New ERHD Students!

Happy New Year! Can you believe it – it’s January 19th, 2024 already and I am so delighted to get started with the Spring semester! Of course, I am teaching our MPH 6008 Ethnic Health and Health Disparities course and I have another exciting and engaging set of graduate professional students in the class!

Our ERHD program also has 2 New ERHD students beginning this semester. They are Julie Gaven and Rose Skelly! Now, we are featuring our new students as soon as they are admitted into the ERHD program and taking their first class which is MPH 6008. So here is a SPECIAL RECOGNITION and WELCOME to our 2 new ERHD students!

Julie Gaven

Rose Skelly

DEADLINE FOR SPRING 2024 ADMISSION – OCTOBER 31st, 2023!

It’s that time of year again. The deadline for Spring 2024 Admission to the ERHD Graduate Certificate Online program is tomorrow — October 31st! It’s a very busy time of the fall semester so we are looking forward to those who are interested in our Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities courses and Certificate, please submit your documents to me via regular mail or email at: baileye@ecu.edu.

The major documents to be submitted are: (1) Letter of Interest, (2) Transcript, (3) GRE/MCAT scores, (4) Writing Sample, and (5) Recommendation Letter.

Upon receipt of your documents, I will forward your documents to our ERHD Admissions Committee for review and determination of the acceptance of each applicant. If you are having any particularly difficulty in submitting your documents by the due date, please inform Dr. Eric Bailey – baileye@ecu.edu.

Welcome to Fall 2023 and Recognition of New Fall ERHD Graduates

It’s a brand new academic year at ECU and I want to WELCOME all the NEW ERHD graduate public health and medical professionals who have started our program this Fall!! By now, I hope you’re settling into our MPH 6007 Global Public Health course and recognize that it is an engaging online, asynchronous class in which students enjoy dialoguing about a wide variety of global public topics!

We are beginning our 13th year of operations and as Director of the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) Graduate Certificate Online program, it gives me great pleasure to recognize our new Fall 2023 ERHD Graduates! They are: (1) Bryant Foriest, (2) Kaitlin Frey, (3) Bridget Gallagher, (4) Courtney Kirchner, (5) Melenis Lopez, (6) Parth Panchal, (7) Emily Parks, (8) Karen Semaan, (9) DJ Smith-Getchell, and (10) Latasha Stabler.

On our ERHD website, you can view all of their photos.

I also want to highlight the OUTSTANDING and very INSIGHTFUL CAPSTONE PROJECT/PROPOSAL titles of each of our new ERHD Graduates. Each Capstone Project/Proposal represents the totality of what each ERHD graduate learned in our ERHD program from the 4 courses.

  • Bryant Foriest – “How Mental Health Stigma and Attitudes inform African American Mental Health Utilization in North Carolina.”
  • Kaitlin Frey – “Applied Fieldwork: Incorporating Interprofessional Medical Facilities within Native American Reservations.”
  • Bridget Gallagher – “Dear Diary: Documenting Self-Efficacy of African American Youth with Sickle Cell Disease.”
  • Courtney Kirchner – “Swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Eastern North Carolina and the Associated Negative Health Outcomes for Rural African American Residents.”
  • Melenis Lopez – “How Racial Inequalities Impacts the Mental Health of Minority Children.”
  • Parth Panchal – “The Plight of African American Women and Their Infants.”
  • Emily Parks – “Addressing Health Disparities among Immigrants: Exploring Perceptions and Improving Access to Screening for Infectious Diseases.”
  • Karen Semaan – “Wholistic Maternal Fetal and Pediatric Support Project.”
  • DJ Smith-Getchell – “Investigating Potential Access Barriers to Emergency Medical Services in Rural Communities.”
  • Latasha Stabler – “Filling the Gap of Over-the-Counter Medical Supply Needs for High-Risk Populations: A Proposal.”

Welcoming 2 NEW ERHD Students for 2023!

It is my distinct pleasure to announce that the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) will be officially welcoming two new ERHD students to our program. They are: Kirchner Courtney and Soonelia Barnes.

First, Soonelia Barnes is interested in the ERHD program because it will allow her to extend her knowledge in the field of Ethnic Rural Health Disparities, Health Advocate, Community Paramedicine, and Emergency Medical Care issues. She has worked in the healthcare field for over 18 years and currently holds an associated degree in Medical Assisting, Associate degree in EMS, and Bachelor’s degree of Science, with a Thematic core in Community Health and Wellness. (Photo not available yet)

Second, Kirchner Courtney is interested in the ERHD program because she has unique experiences of working with the disparity-laden communities of eastern NC throughout her academic career. She is also entering her third semester of the MPH program with a concentration in epidemiology at ECU. Her photo is attached.

Please WELCOME and CONGRATULATE our new ERHD students for 2023!

Special note: There are more coming in 2023 specifically from the Brody School of Medicine at ECU!

ERHD PROGRAM PARTICIPATING IN THE ECU GRADUATE ADMISSIONS FAIR – FALL 2022

It was a pleasure to participate in the annual ECU Graduate Admissions Fair on October 19th, 2022 in which our ERHD program shared the table with my colleagues of the Department of Public Health. Typically, this ECU graduate admissions fair is for ECU undergraduate students who are interested in continuing their graduate education at ECU. Although the turnout of ECU students who attended the fair was light, we still had great conversation and interests from students about our ERHD program! In addition, I always enjoy talking, engaging, and listening to the interests of the next wave of students seeking their graduate education.

Check out a few photos that I took with my Department of Public Health colleagues! We had a fun time!

Director Dr. Eric Bailey and Dr. Marla Hall
Dr. Lok Pokhrel, Rhonda Onorato, and MPH Graduate Student

DEADLINE FOR SPRING ADMISSION – OCTOBER 31ST, 2022

It’s approaching the end of October and the deadline for submitting your documents to be admitted to the ERHD program for the Spring 2023 is OCTOBER 31ST, 2022. The ERHD Admissions Committee looks forward in receiving your documents for review and needs time to evaluate all applicants so that’s why our regular deadline for spring admission is October 31st.

The ERHD program continues to grow and expand each year with new students from various fields of expertise. If you feel that your area of expertise would benefit from additional training in ethnic and rural health disparities, our ERHD program is for you.

If you have questions on submitting your documents, please feel free to contact me — Dr. Eric Bailey — baileye@ecu.edu.

DEADLINE FOR FALL 2022 ERHD APPLICANTS – MARCH 31ST

As of today, March 1st, the ERHD program is back on its regular schedule in accepting applicants for the Fall 2022 academic year. We are very excited about our current ERHD students and look forward to them completing their ERHD program by the end of this summer 2022.

Yet we are equally excited about the NEW applicants who are applying and who will apply to our ERHD program by the due date — MARCH 31st! We strongly encourage all those individuals who are interested in our ERHD program to not wait until the last minute to apply to our ERHD program. It is so important for interested graduate professionals to send in and complete all of your documents as soon as possible for consideration and review by our ERHD Admissions Committee.

Please go to our ERHD website for all the details in applying to our ERHD program for the Fall 2022!

 Director Dr. Eric Bailey and colleague Dr. Gregory Kearney

RECOGNIZING FALL and SUMMER 2021 ERHD GRADUATES – YOUTUBE VIDEO

As Director of the ERHD Program, I was very delighted to highlight our Fall and Summer 2021 graduates in a YOUTUBE video announcement which was posted on our website and sent to several social media outlets at the end of 2021.  The ERHD graduates — ALL ECU Brody School of Medicine medical students — recognized in the video were:

  • Louisa Appiah
  • Helina Gan
  • Ryan Hatfield
  • Ethe Maganga
  • Natalie Malpass
  • Rashieda Pugh
  • Jasmine Robinson
  • K’Shylah Whitehurst
  • Stephanie Wilcher

Check out the YOUTUBE VIDEO at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etVh47o0ATU&t=4s

NEW ERHD 2021 SPRING GRADUATE – SHAUNESSY LOFTON

As Director of the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) Graduate Certificate Online Program, it gives me great pleasure to recognize one of our latest graduates — Shaunessy Lofton! Shaunessy completed all of her course work last summer by finishing her excellent Capstone Project entitled, “African American Women Differences in Perceptions of Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacologic Pain Management for Labor” and now is being recognized this past Spring semester (2021) as an official ERHD graduate.

Shaunessy is also a Spring graduate of the masters program in Health Education and Promotion at UNC Greensboro.

Here is her photo and check out the book that she is holding too!

 Shaunessy Lofton