Dr. Jeremy Beane recently established the Dr. Jeremy Beane Scholarship for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners Endowment to give back to a profession and university that he said have been such an important part of his life.
“My experiences at ECU, across multiple stages of my education, helped shape the clinician and educator I am today and deepened my commitment to primary care and to advancing the nurse practitioner profession,” Beane said. “Through mentoring and precepting students, as well as advocating for our profession, I have become increasingly passionate about investing in the people who will shape its future.”
The Beane scholarship is aimed at supporting Doctor of Nursing Practice and Family Nurse Practitioner students because the pursuit of those degrees can impose a significant financial and barriers for potential students.
“My hope is that this scholarship will make doctoral education a little more accessible for students preparing to serve in primary care,” Beane said. He knows first-and the importance of scholarships as he received several throughout his education, and “every dollar helped. Those scholarships eased some of the financial burden and reminded me that others believed in my potential.”
Beane is a three-time Pirate, having graduated as a Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2020 and a BSN in 2014, as well as a graduate certificate in Nursing Education. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in public health from UNC-Greensboro and became a nurse after graduating from Guilford Technical Community College with an associate’s degree in nursing. He is also certified as an HIV specialist.
Beane currently works as a Family NP at Novant Health – Carolina Family Physicians in Charlotte. Since 2022, he has given back to Pirate Nursing as an adjunct instructor and a preceptor for other ECU nursing students.
Beane said the timing feels right to establish the scholarship because he’s reached a point in his career where he can begin thinking about the legacy he wants to leave. Ultimately, this gift is about paying forward the opportunities I have been given and creating opportunities for future nurse practitioners to make their own impact on primary care and the profession.
Beane said his husband, David Wieland, lost his mom recently. She passed away suddenly, without any estate plan, prompting them to prepare an estate plan so they would have our wishes well documented.
“My hope is that these scholarships will help develop nurse practitioners who provide exceptional care, lead and advocate for the profession, and ultimately make a difference in the lives of the patients and communities they serve,” Beane said. “If this scholarship can continue opening doors for future generations of nurse practitioners long after I am gone, that would be a meaningful legacy.”
Dr. Mark Hand, an ECU clinical professor of nursing, and his husband, Terence Mollohan, recently established a scholarship in honor of Terence’s parents, Burton and Trudy, recognizing their lifelong commitment to compassion, service and caring for others.
The Burton and Trudy Mollohan Endowment scholarship supports North Carolina residents who maintain a 3.0 grade point average or higher. Although Terence studied computer science in Rhode Island, he wanted to support nursing students and be part of their journey, creating an opportunity to connect with and get to know the students the scholarship will support.
“We want to recognize them and keep their names alive and that by doing that, invest in the students who will carry forward their same spirt of integrity and service,” Hand said.
This is the second scholarship that Hand has had a role in funding for nursing students. Before coming to ECU, he taught nursing at Rivier University in New Hampshire. After he lost his sister to cancer, he created a scholarship in her memory to benefit male students.
“Both my brother and sister both died of cancer. She was always proud of me as a male nurse,” Hand said.
To support this scholarship, click here and search for the Burton and Trudy Mollohan Endowment.
The East Carolina University College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS) officially began operations on July 1, 2026, with Dr. Nicole Bromfield serving as dean. This new college united programs from the former College of Allied Health Sciences and College of Health and Human Performance, and will center on health, well-being and community.
The new health-focused college will join the Brody School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine and College of Nursing on the health sciences campus and will be supported philanthropically through the ECU Health Foundation.
“The ECU Health Foundation is looking forward to leading the philanthropic efforts for another college of the health sciences at ECU,” said Dr. Scott Senatore, Chief Philanthropy Officer for the ECU Health Foundation. “The College of Health and Human Sciences will provide countless opportunities for students and our community and is another step toward our aligned mission of improving the health, education and well-being of eastern North Carolina and beyond.”
Donations made to CHHS will provide critical funding for scholarships, faculty and staff support, college priorities and more. If you are interested in making a gift to the College of Health and Human Sciences, please contact Sarah Swain at [email protected].
The sixth annual Sonríe Clinic in Ross Hall breathed new life into a special event created through a labor of love.
The student-led event, headed up by the school’s chapter of the Hispanic Student Dental Association (HSDA) and its president, Brooke Holmes, provided care in February for 80 patients — adding up to $35,000 worth of care.
The Sonríe Clinic, which was created by dental students in 2021, provides oral health care at no cost to members of the Hispanic community who have been screened in advance. This year’s event was also sponsored by the North Carolina Dental Society Foundation.
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.