A Skill Set For North Carolina

Physician Assistant Studies student Gary Taylor came to Carolina after a 10-and-a-half-year career in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces medical sergeant and combat diver.

When he was transitioned out of the military, he knew he wanted to become a physician assistant to serve underserved populations. At Carolina, he completed several clinical rotations at Chatham Hospital and participated in the Rural Inter-Professional Health Initiative (RIPHI), a three-year pilot program that enables health professions students to learn in underserved rural clinical settings in North Carolina.

“I truly enjoy helping medicine and helping people, so I feel like I can now take those skill sets and employ that here in North Carolina and to an underserved population,” Taylor said. “It’s a phenomenal field. It just seemed like the perfect fit.”

Taylor was a Blue Cross NC Physician Assistant scholar. The RIPHI program is supported by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.

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