In addition to training at ECU Health Medical Center – a 974-bed tertiary care center – physician residents and fellows are exposed to rural communities throughout eastern North Carolina.

For many resident physicians and fellows at ECU Health, there is a deep connection to the rural health care mission.

Incoming hematology-oncology fellow Dr. Rana Mohamed has a legacy connection to ECU Health and eastern North Carolina. Dr. Mohamed is a North Carolina native who completed her internal medicine residency and served as a Chief Resident at ECU Health, and her father did his own internal medicine residency training here more than 20 years ago. Now, she has the opportunity to continue her medical training journey with a patient population she has grown to love.

“The reason I decided to continue my journey here again is the patient population,” said Dr. Mohamed. “We truly have some of the sickest people that I’ve ever met. I’ve done rotations during med school, in my training, and I have never seen the variety of patients that I’ve seen here. And it just gave me such a good training experience that I think, even in fellowship, I’m going to continue to get amazing training here.

Another resident, Dr. Pavran “Pavi” Sahota, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and began his medical training at Caribbean Medical University in Curaçao, where he completed both pre-med and medical education. Dr. Sahota completed his clinical rotations in Chicago, where he worked with underserved communities hit hard by the opioid crisis. That experience shaped his commitment to equity and deepened his interest in family medicine.

“A lot of what I saw came down to lack of resources,” Dr. Sahota said. “That’s something I want to help address.”

Drawn to ECU Health’s mission and rural reach, he is excited to begin his residency in Ahoskie as part of the ECU Health Rural Family Medicine Residency Program. The program is uniquely designed to train the next generation of rural family medicine providers by exposing them to the unique needs of rural communities.

“Family medicine lets me relate to people on all levels,” said Dr. Sahota. “No matter where they’re from, I want to meet them where they are.”

Another incoming Rural Family Medicine resident, Dr. Tatiana Davidson, will be located in Duplin County. Dr. Davidson grew up in the small town of Whiteville, North Carolina. It was there that she first witnessed the persistent gaps in health care access within rural communities, particularly around chronic illnesses and health literacy. Those early impressions shaped a lifelong mission.

After earning her medical degree from Loma Linda University in California, Davidson worked as a medical assistant before joining ECU Health’s Duplin Rural Family Medicine Residency Program.

“I was really impressed that rural health care was actually part of the organization’s mission statement,” Dr. Davidson said. “I’ve never seen that before. It made this feel like the right place to be.”

For one incoming family medicine resident, joining the program means coming home.

Dr. Kathryn Outlaw, born and raised in Ahoskie, said, “It’s home. I’ve lived a in a few different places but nowhere else has felt like home like eastern North Carolina does.”