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.
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is the leading cause of maternal death and family dissolution in the U.S., with eastern North Carolina experiencing some of the most severe outcomes nationwide
Thanks to a $15,486 grant from the ECU Health Foundation, ECU College of Nursing faculty Courtney Caiola, PhD and Chandra Speight, PhD, in partnership with David Ryan, MD, founding clinician of ECU IMPACT, are leading a new initiative to improve outcomes in our region. They are working together, along with community partners, to improve regional screening and referral processes so at-risk groups can be connected to ECU IMPACT’s evidence based perinatal and addiction services.
This project reflects the shared mission of the College of Nursing and ECU Health, and is made possible by the generosity of ECU Health Foundation donors who are driving innovative solutions where they are needed most.
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.
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.
At the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, the Class of 2025 celebrated Match Day in style.
Sixty-eight of the 69 students in the class matched. One student elected to do a research year in orthopedics before entering the match program. Fifty-two percent of the class will enter primary care residencies, with 42% staying in North Carolina and 20% matching at ECU Health Medical Center.
The class stood with their families, friends, classmates and faculty members as they tore open their envelopes to reveal the next stop in their medical school journeys. Prior to receiving their envelopes, each student had the opportunity to walk across the stage to a song of his or her choice and a personalized presentation slide shown on a projector screen.
“Match Day is always a special moment in a physician’s journey, and today is no exception,” said Dr. Michael Waldrum, dean of the medical school and CEO of ECU Health. “These students have dedicated themselves to the noble pursuit of caring for others and now have the opportunity to take all they’ve learned here at the Brody School of Medicine to improve the lives of countless patients they will serve in their careers. I could not be more proud of the Class of 2025 on this special day.”