The ECU Health Cancer Care team is hoping to make the holidays brighter for Cancer patients during their stay through the annual Santa’s H.O.P.E. pop-up store experience.
Santa’s Helping Oncology Patients Everywhere, or H.O.P.E., is a donation-funded event that creates a memorable holiday experience for hospital-bound adult Cancer patients as they shop for gifts for their loved ones, free of charge. Donations provide unwrapped presents for patients to choose from as they shop, sip on hot chocolate and enjoy snacks.
In years past, nurses and other team members at the Cancer Center have come together to organize the store and buy gifts with their own money for patients. This year, ECU Health is hoping to receive community support through donations so that more patients can take part and select gifts.
New, unwrapped gifts can be donated to Santa’s H.O.P.E. You can also donate monetarily through the ECU Health Foundation here.
You can also reach out to Varessa Wall with ECU Health Foundation at 252-847-8994 or by email at [email protected].
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On Veterans Day, The East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine provided 30 veterans with free oral health care through the Smiles for Veterans program. This is the second year the event has been held at Ross Hall, with students, residents, faculty and staff providing more than $13,000 in oral health care including exams, extractions, cleanings, oral surgeries, root canals and even a complete crown.
The Smiles for Veterans program is donor-funded and allows the dental school to provide free oral health care to veterans across North Carolina.There are events held throughout the year at all eight of the school’s community service learning centers (CSLC). Since the initiative began in 2018, it has provided close to a quarter million dollars worth of care for more than 500 veterans. The program began in partnership with the Veteran Smiles Foundation and local veterans’ organizations and has expanded to be sponsored by other supporters and groups over the years.
The vision for the state-of-the-art technology in the Center for Medical Education (CME) at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine came into better focus this month thanks to a $1 million award from the Golden LEAF Foundation.
The award is the first million-dollar philanthropic investment — in partnership with the ECU Health Foundation — for the medical school expansion. The funding will outfit the CME’s learning studio with 360-degree screens and the software to run the whitebox simulation room.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this transformative grant from Golden LEAF in support of the Center for Medical Education, as it will allow us to further the mission-driven alignment between the health system and the university,” said Dr. Scott Senatore, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the ECU Health Foundation. “Golden LEAF is an outstanding community partner and is an integral part of elevating student success and training future physicians to meet crucial health care needs in North Carolina. Their award will provide a lasting impact for years to come, and for that, we are truly grateful.”
In addition to the CME support, Golden LEAF provides an undergraduate scholarship program, which currently supports 70 ECU students. The organization has provided funding for the world-renowned ECU Diabetes and Obesity Institute, the ECU Family Medicine Center, which trains future physicians, and the Eastern Region Pharma Center in ECU’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building, which connects industry and business to academics and research. In 2018, Golden LEAF also provided a $10 million grant for cancer care equipment for the Vidant Health Cancer Center (now ECU Health Medical Center).
Click here to learn more about the impact the Golden LEAF award will have on the CME building.
The Grace Marie Hudson Brown Memorial Patient Care Fund is more than a pathway for supporters of the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine to aid patient care — it’s also an act of love through service.
The endowed fund was created by Dr. Benjamin Brown, a longtime North Carolina endodontist, to honor his late wife — they were married for 61 years — and to support oral health care for patients of the school’s offices and community service learning centers across North Carolina.
“I wanted to honor her in a way that carries her name, while supporting the school and its mission to provide care for people across the state and producing new dentists who are also from North Carolina,” Brown said.
Following a decades-long career in dentistry, Brown is proud that many members of his family have followed his career path, making their own mark in the profession and helping countless patients reveal their brightest, healthiest smiles. His granddaughter, Lucy Anna Sheaffer, just began her second year at the ECU School of Dental Medicine.
Read more about the Sheaffer family and their hope for the endowed Grace Marie Hudson Brown Memorial Patient Care Fund here.
You can support the fund here.
Donors like Atticus Fisher understand the life-changing impact of nurses because he saw it firsthand in his mother, Mary Lou Fisher, whose compassion and skill touched lives across the globe.
Mary Lou Schulz Fisher graduated with a Bachelor of Science in nursing from East Carolina University in 1985, and went on to live a full life as a successful travel nurse.
Mary Lou’s excellence caught the attention of President Jimmy Carter, who invited her to join a medical mission to Costa Rica. Inspired following the trip, she continued her education to earn a Master of Science in Nursing, which opened doors for her to serve internationally with Samaritan’s Purse. Through this work, she cared for people in need around the world.
Mary Lou passed away in 2016, but her legacy of compassion continues. To honor her lifelong commitment to caring for others, the Fisher family established the Mary Lou Schulz Fisher Scholarship at ECU, the place where her nursing journey began. To date, the scholarship has provided $1,000 awards to five students.
“As a senior pursuing a BSN degree, this scholarship will significantly help ease the financial burden of my education. The Fisher family’s support allows me to focus more on my academic and career goals without the much-added stress of finances,” said Haley Gipson, a recipient of the Mary Lou Schulz Fisher scholarship. “Not only that, but it encourages and motivates me to work hard and make the most of the opportunities that have been provided to me, just like Mary Lou Fisher did herself. I hope that one day I will be as inspirational as her.”
Sarah Swain, executive director of Health Sciences Philanthropy with the ECU Health Foundation, said creating a scholarship is a powerful way to honor a loved one’s legacy.
“We’re deeply grateful to families like the Fishers who understand the impact of an ECU education and are committed to transforming the lives of our students — both now and for generations to come,” Swain said.
To learn more about supporting College of Nursing students through an academic scholarship or to make a gift, contact Swain at 252-847-5874.
Donors have embraced East Carolina University’s priority fundraising focus to further initiatives like scholarships and research, contributing nearly $74.4 million in philanthropic support, according to a fiscal year-end wrap-up of 2024-25.
The fundraising total includes $23.2 million – through the ECU Health Foundation – for health sciences and health care priorities.
Notable fiscal year giving included $2 million from the Bedford Falls Foundation-DAF to create a scholarship program in the College of Nursing. The five-year partnership launches a first-of-its-kind initiative at ECU to establish a medic-to-nurse pathway that will bring military medics through the accelerated Bachelor of Science program in the College of Nursing.
Also of note is a three-year, $593,000 grant from Dogwood Health Trust that invests more than $85,000 in Patient Care Funds for the School of Dental Medicine and more than $425,000 in salary support for existing and additional positions at the Sylva and Spruce Pine Community Service Learning Centers (CSLC). The grant will ensure that more uninsured individuals receive services and allow the CSLCs to provide competitive salaries in hiring clinical staff and practice management positions.
Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University held orientation week for new residents, officially welcoming the Class of 2029. The week included a lecture and luncheon was funded by the Albernaz family endowment. The entire week was laced with food, treats and programming made possible by gifts from alumni and donors to the Brody Loyalty Fund, maintained by the ECU Health Foundation.
The Brody Scholars program, created in 1983 with gifts from the Brody family and the Brody Foundation, is a merit award that pays for tuition over four years, most living expenses and $5,000 for travel. Only three incoming students get it.
A generous gift from the Bedford Falls Foundation-DAF, through the ECU Health Foundation, will launch a first-of-its-kind initiative at East Carolina University to establish a medic-to-nurse pathway that will bring military medics through the accelerated Bachelor of Science program in the College of Nursing.
The five-year, $2 million partnership strengthens the relationship between ECU and the military and will bridge the transition between active military service and careers in community health care.
East Carolina University’s School of Dental Medicine aims to increase sustainability and provide more patient access in western North Carolina through a grant from Dogwood Health Trust.
The three-year, $593,000 grant invests more than $85,000 in Patient Care Funds and more than $425,000 in salary support for existing and additional positions at the Sylva and Spruce Pine Community Service Learning Centers (CSLC). The grant will ensure that more uninsured individuals receive services and allow the centers to provide competitive salaries in hiring clinical staff and practice management positions.
East Carolina University is now an R1 research institution, a designation given to the top research universities in the U.S. by the American Council on Education (ACE) and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
This is the highest level of research excellence, awarded to schools with the most funding, faculty-led research and graduate programs, placing ECU among 5% of institutions in the nation that hold the R1 designation. ECU is one of five institutions in North Carolina and among 187 across the country designated as R1.
On Wednesday, ECU celebrated the recent designation.