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As we begin a new year at the Sheps Center, the past several months offer a clear reminder of the depth, reach, and impact of our work. Across programs and disciplines, our teams continue to advance research, inform policy, and strengthen health systems in ways that directly benefit North Carolina and communities nationwide.
This issue highlights just a few examples of what makes Sheps distinctive. Our Program on Aging shared leading scholarship and national leadership at the Gerontological Society of America meeting, reflecting how our faculty and trainees are shaping the future of aging research and long-term care. The Sheps GME Technical Assistance Center brought together partners from across the country to strengthen rural and community-based medical and dental education, reinforcing our role as a trusted convener in workforce development. During University Research Week, collaborations among the five centers in our building demonstrated the power of partnership to address the state’s most pressing challenges—and to build new research relationships.
You’ll also see how Sheps teams continue to inform major decisions at the state and federal levels, from the 2026 State Medical Facilities Plan to new initiatives shaping the rural health landscape. Through careful analysis, implementation support, and resource development, our work keeps evidence at the center of policymaking.
We also pause to remember and honor Dr. Arnold “Arnie” Kaluzny, whose foundational contributions helped shape Sheps into the nationally recognized center it is today. His influence lives on in the work we carry forward.
Thank you for the dedication, collaboration, and care you bring to this work every day. As we look ahead to 2026, I hope you will join us in celebrating and supporting our mission on GiveUNC Day, March 24. Your engagement strengthens our community and helps ensure our work continues to make a meaningful impact across North Carolina and beyond.
Mark Holmes, PhD
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Sheps Program on Aging Makes Impact at GSA
The Program on Aging, Chronic Illness, and Long-term Care at the Sheps Center was actively engaged in the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2025 Annual Conference through a wide range of scholarly presentations, discussions, and networking activities. Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, MSW served as a discussant for a presentation on Private Equity Acquisitions of Assisted Living and was the first author for a presentation discussion on Evidence-Based Recruitment and Retention for Nursing Home Clinical Trials. In addition, she participated in the Presidential Symposium titled Transforming Aging Through Technology: A Practical Guide for Early Scholars, and she presented the Inaugural Research Award for the Center on Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL@UNC).
Program affiliates also contributed original research through poster presentations: Cameron Ulmer, RN, BSN presented a scoping review on Implementation and Quality Improvement Strategies in Assisted Living, and London Jones, MPH presented findings on the Validity of Video Fall Detection for Assisted Living Residents with Dementia. Further showcasing creative and community-engaged scholarship, Phil Sloane, MD, MPH led a movie presentation and discussion for Makin’ Movin’, a documentary highlighting a musical created by retirement home residents.
| | London Jones, MPH presents a poster showcasing an innovative approach to identifying night-time falls in older adults with dementia. | | |
ShepsGME Convenings Strengthen Rural & Community GME Nationwide
In September 2025, the ShepsGME Technical Assistance Center convened two national meetings that advanced collaboration, capacity-building, and long-term sustainability across rural and community-based graduate medical and dental education programs.
The Rural and Health Center National Graduate Medical Education Conference, held September 10–12 in Rockville, Maryland, brought together 345 participants representing Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD), Teaching Health Center Planning and Development (THCPD), and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) awardee programs, along with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), technical assistance providers, and a wide range of national partners. Sessions offered education and resources on program design, financial planning, institutional sponsorship, accreditation, implementation, and community engagement. Attendees engaged directly with representatives from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) on accreditation requirements and strategies for long-term compliance, while structured networking opportunities supported relationship-building and resource alignment. As one participant noted, “So many important conversations happened… extremely helpful for awardees. This conference NEEDS to continue in support of these programs.”
The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education All-Grantee Meeting, held virtually September 17–18, further supported shared learning among 196 participants, including THCGME grantees, HRSA staff, and national stakeholders. Sessions addressed accreditation maintenance, governance, financial sustainability, recruitment, faculty development, and curricular innovation. This virtual meeting featured many presentations from teaching health center program leaders, staff, and trainees. One attendee described the meeting as “awesome, very inspiring… the value of attending cannot be overstated.”
Together, these events underscore the Sheps Center’s role as a national convener and trusted partner in strengthening rural and community-based workforce development nationwide.
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Celebrating University Research Week: Mapping Our NC Impact
In October, the Sheps Center was proud to co-host Mapping Our NC Impact—a dynamic University Research Week event spotlighting how UNC research centers serve North Carolina. The event brought Sheps together with the four other centers that are housed in our building: North Carolina Institute of Medicine, UNC Center for Natural Hazards Resilience, UNC Highway Safety Research Center, and UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. Each center shared a brief presentation highlighting our collective impact—from informing public policy and improving health outcomes to enhancing safety and resilience across the state.
At Sheps, we’re honored to be part of this community of researchers working to make North Carolina healthier, safer, and stronger. Thank you to our co-hosts and attendees for making this event a success!
| | Congratulations to recent award winners! | | |
Jeanna Campbell, PhD, received a 2025 Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence (PARE). Dr. Campbell is a postdoctoral trainee with the Primary Care Research Fellowship at Sheps. Her research explores the impact of income, community resources, and primary health care services on cardiometabolic health outcomes, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
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Sasha Zabelski, PhD, Program Manager with Sheps' Behavior Health Services Research Program, has been accepted to the AcademyHealth Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research Program. The 15-month program will strengthen her policy communication skills and support engagement with local policymakers on evidence-based mental health services. Through this training, she will advance efforts to promote sustained investment in community-based mental health care.
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Betsy Sleath, PhD, received the 30th Annual George L. Engel Award at the Academy of Communication in Healthcare’s (ACH) 2025 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH). Dr. Sleath is the Regional Associate Dean with the UNC School of Pharmacy and directs the Child & Adolescent Health Service Program at Sheps.
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Bianca Allison, MD, MPH, was selected for the 2025-2026 Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship. Dr. Allison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and also a researcher with the Child and Adolescent Health Services Program at Sheps.
| | Governor Approves 2026 State Medical Facilities Plan | | |
The 2026 State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP) has officially been approved by Governor Josh Stein effective January 1, 2026. Submitted in late October by Sandra Greene, DrPH, Chair of the NC State Health Coordinating Council, the plan provides a roadmap for the growth of North Carolina’s healthcare system.
This year’s plan is historic: it projects an unprecedented need for 1,758 new acute care beds statewide. Mecklenburg County leads with 389 beds, followed by Durham (236), Wake (233), and New Hanover (225). These projections will drive significant hospital expansion projects as providers apply for certificates of need (CONs) to meet demand.
Dr. Greene emphasized the importance of this milestone: “The 2026 SMFP reflects the dynamic growth in North Carolina and the critical need to ensure access to hospital care. These projections will guide investments that strengthen our healthcare infrastructure for years to come.”
The Sheps Center plays a critical role in this process. Marta Ramirez, MPA and Ashley Avis, MSA, from our Data Analysis and Research Team (DART), process quarterly hospital discharge data for the NC Department of Health Service Regulation. Their meticulous work ensures accurate calculations of bed needs—data that underpins decisions shaping future healthcare access across the state.
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AI as an Analytic Accelerator for Rural Medical Education
By: Shelby Rimmler-Cohen, MPH, Associate Director of the Sheps GME Technical Assistance Center
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Our Sheps GME Technical Assistance Center (TAC) supports medical and dental residency programs in rural and underserved regions of North Carolina and across the nation with program start-up and sustainability. Like many, we have been exploring how AI tools can streamline our work while maintaining rigor. Following UNC’s adoption of Microsoft Copilot (with Data Protection), we tested its utility in developing technical assistance resources, focusing on faculty recruitment, a common challenge for rural residency programs.
Our team set out to create a faculty recruitment toolkit informed by successful strategies and resources used by newly established programs. We analyzed qualitative interview data from 36 rural medical residency programs. After coding transcripts in ATLAS.ti using a grounded theory approach, we used Copilot to summarize the exported code reports, identify preliminary themes, and organize responses aligned with research questions on recruitment strategies, barriers, and community-informed practices.
Copilot’s AI substantially reduced time spent synthesizing large volumes of qualitative data, allowing us to focus on interpretation, validation, and integration with existing evidence and practitioner expertise. We manually reviewed Copilot’s outputs to verify accuracy and ensure alignment with original data before incorporating findings into toolkit development.
Key lessons learned through this project: clear, context-rich prompts improve AI outputs; efficiency gains must be balanced with data security and IRB compliance; AI works best as an analytic accelerator, not as a substitute for researcher judgment; and keeping the deliverable audience and purpose in mind ensures you maintain adequate methodological rigor.
Special thanks to Khadeejatul-Kubraa Lawal, MPH, for her partnership in project design, analysis, and toolkit development.
| | North Carolina Institute of Medicine Updates | | |
2025 Annual Meeting
The NCIOM hosted its annual meeting in November 2025, bringing together leaders from public health, health care, policy, and community for a full day of discussion about the state of Healthy North Carolina 2030 at the midpoint in the decade. Dr. Umair A. Shah, former Secretary of Washington State Department of Health, gave a keynote address about resilience in the face of change and how public health can meet the current moment.
Breakout panels covered:
- The impact of federal decisions on state public health
- Reducing overdose deaths
- Housing access and how it impacts health
- Meeting North Carolinians’ food-related needs
- Innovative approaches to suicide prevention
- The effects of policy and health communications on sexual health
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North Carolina Medical Journal, Vol. 86, Issue 4, 2025: Dispatches from Medicaid in North Carolina
In the NCMJ's final issue of 2025, authors explore Medicaid in North Carolina, policy changes that have improved access to care, and pending funding reductions that are expected to bring major shifts to the care people can receive.
| | Workforce Program Showcases at NAPCRG 2025 | | |
Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW and Lisa Zerden, PhD, MSW from the UNC Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center presented two 2024–2025 projects at the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Annual Meeting in November. The first project, Characterizing Psychiatric Collaborative Care Management (CoCM) and Episodes of Care Amongst Commercially Insured Individuals, explores trends in CoCM claims and how episodes of care vary by year, patient demographics, and provider type. The second project, Examining Advanced Behavioral Health Training in Geriatric Fellowships, assesses the depth of mental and behavioral health training in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine geriatric fellowship programs, identifying opportunities for improvement. Learn more about these projects: Project 1 | Project 2.
Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP, co-director of the Sheps Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy, presented two projects at NAPCRG. In one presentation, Tracking North Carolina Medical School Graduates: How Many Are Retained Instate, in Primary Care, and in High Need Places, Dr. Fraher presented data from the recently released Medical Student Tracking report which tracked five- and ten-year practice outcomes of 2014 and 2019 NC medical school graduates, including retention in state, practice in primary care specialties and in rural/urban, underserved, and safety net settings. In Physician Transitions Out of Clinical Practice and Into Retirement: Age, Gender, Generational and Specialty Effects, Dr. Fraher presented results from a longitudinal, panel study investigating the effect of age, generational cohort, gender and specialty on two mutually exclusive transitions: temporary moves out of clinical practice during a physician’s career and moves into retirement (full presentation details).
| | From left: Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP; Margaret Helton, MD; Katrina Donahue, MD, MPH; Lisa Zerden, PhD, MSW; Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW; and Helen Newton, PhD, MPH. | | Rural Health Transformation Program Resources | | |
The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) is a new $50 billion federal initiative providing funds to states (like the $213 million for North Carolina recently announced) to strengthen rural healthcare by improving access, quality, and workforce through innovation, technology, and infrastructure over five years (2026-2030). It's a response to federal funding shifts, offering strategic investment in rural health systems to tackle challenges like workforce shortages and distance to care, with funding distributed via state plans submitted to CMS.
To support rural health across the U.S. as states begin their RHTP projects, the Rural Health Research Program at Sheps created a resource guide to share data, analytics, and insights from the RHTP. By providing evidence and methods, we help partners design effective programs, allocate resources efficiently, and avoid duplicative efforts. Our goal is to build analytic capacity across the rural health ecosystem and translate research into actionable strategies that advance access, equity, and sustainability. Updates will be posted as we learn more.
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Remembering Arnold "Arnie" Kaluzny, PhD
The Sheps Center mourns the loss of Arnold Kaluzny, a true pioneer in health services research and an integral part of our history. Arnie was more than a colleague—he was a visionary whose influence shaped the foundation of the Center. As a contributor to the Sheps Center's original grant application in 1968, his leadership and insight helped establish what would become a nationally recognized hub for health policy and research.
Throughout his distinguished career, Arnie championed innovation in cancer care delivery and organizational change, leaving an indelible mark on public health. His mentorship inspired generations of scholars, and his commitment to collaboration and excellence reflected the very mission of UNC and the Sheps Center.
Arnie’s legacy lives on in the work we do every day—advancing research that improves health and informs policy. We are deeply grateful for his contributions and the enduring impact of his vision.
Read more about Arnie's accomplished career and life in this Gillings article and in his obituary.
The Memorial Service for Dr. Arnold "Arnie" Kaluzny is scheduled for Friday, March 6 at 2pm at the Carol Woods Retirement Community Assembly Hall, 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill NC. The service will be livestreamed. Memorial contributions can be made in the name of Barbara and Arnold Kaluzny to Triangle Disability & Autism Services, Inc.
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Lori Rodefeld, MS
Sheps GME Technical Assistance Center
Lori is the Deputy Director of the Sheps GME TAC. In this role, she supports federally funded programs that help rural hospitals and health centers across the country develop and sustain graduate medical education (GME) programs. Lori is passionate about strengthening the physician workforce in underserved communities and enjoys working with stakeholders to create sustainable residency programs. She is particularly interested in advancing federal and state GME policy and has worked closely with stakeholders to design strategies that expand GME in high-need specialties like psychiatry, surgery, and OB/GYN.
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Amanda Dale, PhD, MSPH
Behavioral Health Services Research
Amanda is a Research Associate with the NC Behavioral Health Evaluation and Learning Lab (NC-BELL) - a 3-year evaluation of the state's crisis and child behavioral health systems. She manages the claims-based portion of the crisis evaluation, describing the landscape of crisis service use among North Carolinians and evaluating the impact of holistic crisis system investments.
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Monica Landers, PhD, MS
Behavioral Health Services Research
Monica is a Project Manager evaluating the impact of recent investments into North Carolina’s children’s behavioral health system. She has over a decade of research and evaluation experience from the University of South Florida. Monica earned a PhD in Behavioral and Community Sciences (2021) and holds master’s degrees in Criminology and in Social Work. In her free time, Monica can be found running, hiking, and exploring the outdoors with her partner Michael.
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Ruby Brinkerhoff, MCRP
NCIOM
Ruby is the assistant managing editor of the North Carolina Medical Journal (NCMJ), published by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM). Ruby assists with communications work across NCMJ and NCIOM projects, manages original research submissions, and supports the journal’s production and publication processes. Ruby holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a specialization in Land Use and Environmental Planning.
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📆March 18
2026 State Graduate Medical Education (GME) Summit
12:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Virtual event
This free, virtual summit will bring together state offices, policymakers, rural GME programs, teaching health centers, and rural and underserved healthcare leaders from across the country to share insights and collaborate on advancing state-based GME initiatives.
🔗Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/AjtH9-FtRM6G3T-1P6RP2w
Questions? Reach out to info@shepsgme.org.
Hosted in partnership by the ShepsGME Technical Assistance Center and
The Sheps Center for Health Services Research
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- KFF Health News reports on a Sheps Center analysis that sheds new light on how states’ technical scores shaped Rural Health Transformation funding.
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Sheps data was cited in a recent NC Newsline article examining the impact of Medicaid cuts on struggling family practices across NC.
- A new analysis from AAMC and Sheps GME Technical Assistance Center examines the impact of resetting hospital GME per-resident amounts and FTE caps, key factors shaping physician workforce growth and training capacity.
- A report from the Sheps Program on Aging shares results from a 3-year pilot program studying the effectiveness of an accreditation process for assisted living communities in NC.
- KHI hosted the Health on the Plains Coffee Hour with a conversation featuring Mark Holmes, exploring the complex work at the intersection of public policy, health care financing and rural places.
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Do Changes in Hospital Ownership Affect Staffing?
The NC Rural Health Research Program released new research, authored by Ayush Mandanhar, MPP and Tyler Malone, PhD, examining whether changes in hospital ownership affect staffing ratios—a critical factor for care quality and rural economies. Using CMS HCRIS data, we analyzed more than a decade of ownership transitions.
In rural hospitals, for-profit ownership was associated with lower staffing ratios in some models, but rural–urban difference-in-differences analysis found no significant relationship.
These findings suggest that ownership conversions do not consistently translate into staffing changes. However, more research is needed to understand how financial conditions and the reasons behind ownership changes shape workforce impacts.
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Looking for Customized Data Solutions for Your Virtual Care Project?
Through partnership with The Sheps Center, The UNC Center for Virtual Care Value and Excellence (ViVE) provides customized data solutions to support investigators and clinicians working on virtual care projects.
ViVE’s expertise includes:
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Using SAM, ViVE’s AI-powered chatbot tool, to rapidly summarize trends, detect patterns, and generate visualizations
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Want to read a previous issues of this newsletter? Click here.
Have feedback on this newsletter or suggested content for future newsletters? Contact Lindsay McCall.
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