“That two of us, as residents in this inaugural rural program, decided to stay in North Carolina and practice where we trained shows how much we love it here.”

Dr. Zeel Shah, a Toronto, Canada, native and one of the chief residents of ECU Health’s Ahoskie rural family medicine track, talks about her passion for rural medicine and her plans to stay in North Carolina.

“I attended the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, and as a second year student I created the first ever health fair on the island. I realized then how much of a difference something so simple can make in a small community. You see the impact you’re making every day. Rural medicine allows me to be trained at the top of my license and practice broad spectrum family medicine. In a rural community, you don’t have professionals from different specialties as readily available. As a resident, you can hone your skills, and if a patient needs a procedure, they don’t have a specialist – they have you.

“I chose ECU because of its well-established family medicine program and the new rural medicine track. It was intriguing to me that it was a new program, so I would have the opportunity to get involved in curating and cultivating the curriculum.

“We spent the first year of our residency in Greenville working at the Medical Center or the ECU Family Medicine Center, which was rigorous and helped set us up for the rural setting. In Greenville you have a lot of resources, but in Ahoskie, the challenges are different. Social determinants of health care, such as finances and distance, play a significant role and you don’t have the same resources. You learn quite a lot about how to make your limited resources go a long way by relying on creative strategies while using medical expertise you picked up in Greenville.

“I have such an incredible group of people I work with. ECU Health is a great organization and you feel immediately comfortable. I’ve had incredible mentors, and that sort of relationship allows you to truly grow because you’re not afraid to fail. They accept and understand that you’re in training. Everyone is striving towards the same goal, so much so that I decided to stay on. I fell in love with the community, and I plan to work as a daytime hospitalist in Washington, NC. I also plan to stay on as a preceptor for rural health track residents in Ahoskie, and I hope to participate in future work internationally. That two of us, as residents in this inaugural rural program, decided to stay in North Carolina and practice where we trained shows how much we love it here.”