Four doctors who graduated from the Campbell University medical school and will complete their residencies at Harnett Health have signed on to stay with the local healthcare provider.

That news is among the latest evidence The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University is honoring its primary mission — training osteopathic physicians to care for the underserved. Caring for people in rural areas who may lack access to primary care or don’t have the means of getting it. 

The medical school, in fact, ranks second-highest in the nation for “Medical Schools With the Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas,” according to U.S. News & World Report rankings of top medical schools released in July.

Campbell University is the only osteopathic medical school in North Carolina.

The four primary care doctors — Shelby Rhyne, Sarah Lassiter, Morgan Hawkins and Bonnie Page — graduated from the med school in 2022 and will complete their residencies in June 2025. Campbell’s mission to care for the underserved is similar to that of Harnett Health, which is committed to serving the mostly rural county and its about 139,000 residents. 

“The mission of both Campbell and Harnett health residency is to train excellent physicians who want to stay and serve our community. We’re very excited,” said Dr. Regina Bray Brown, director of Medical Education at Harnett Health and program director of the Harnett Health Family Medicine Residency Program in a press release. 

The importance of adding four new family physicians to the Harnett Health team can’t be discounted, she added. 

“We have been really working hard to grow our primary care presence in the county, to be able to serve our patients adequately,” said Bray Brown in a press release. Brown has been with Harnett health since 2018. “The reason that Harnett Health started residency programs is to serve Harnett County, specifically.”

The group of four joins community physicians such as Jennifer Hill and Alex Herring, both of whom graduated from Campbell’s med school and trained in Family Medicine at Harnett Health’s Family Medicine residency.

Lassiter, who grew up in nearby Benson, chose Campbell’s med school because it allowed her to stay close to home while also teaching her to care for people of my community. 

“I decided to stay at Harnett Health so that I could continue to care for the patients who are part of that community, but who also hold such a large part of my heart now. The patient population and the patients I currently see bring me so much joy, I couldn’t imagine leaving,” shared Lassiter in a press release. 

Lassiter remembers attending an undergraduate Accepted Students Day at Campbell while a senior in high school.  

“They told us about the medical school they were opening and how its mission to serve rural and underserved North Carolina would help to close the provider shortage that we were facing,” shared Lassiter. 

Lassiter was determined to attend Campbell’s med school, excited that she would help fulfill that mission.

“I knew from family experience what patients in underserved and provider shortage areas were faced with, and I wanted to help bridge that gap between health and access to medicine,” Lassiter said. “From their mission statement to the educators that trained me, they knew my desire was to serve in rural and underserved North Carolina, and they catered to that in every way possible.

“I am thrilled to be staying at Harnett Health and look forward to becoming a permanent part of this community.” 

Each Harnett Health Family Medicine residency class consists of four physicians, but this class was unique because all of them graduated from Campbell. 

“We have a pretty good track record of keeping people,” Bray Brown said in a release, “but this is the first time we’ve had a 100% retention rate, which is kind of unheard of. All of them went to Campbell.”

For Hawkins, the decision to stay with Harnett was an easy one.

“It allows me to work with great physicians like my classmates and provide exceptional care to an area that needs more primary care physicians,” shared Hawkins in a press release. 

Hawkins says her family lives in a farming community about 30 miles from Buies Creek.

“I was able to watch from a young age the need for primary care in this area,” Hawkins said. “Campbell’s mission and partnership with local residencies exposed me to providing care for those in my community. Throughout my residency with Harnett, my desire to provide primary care for our community has grown.” 

Page said she and her husband have grown to love the community, and she was fortunate to attend the medical school and spend her medical school rotations and Family Medicine residency at Harnett Health.

“I became passionate about the local patient population, established roots in the community and even had family members move to the area,” said Page, who is from Presque Isle, a small town in northern Maine.

“While I decided not to go back to Maine, I did want to continue giving back to a similar community. I was so excited to sign my contract to work in Lillington, and I can’t wait to continue to care for the wonderful people here.”

According to U.S. News, 46.8 percent of Campbell graduates are practicing in medically underserved areas, the only N.C. medical ranking in the top 10 in this category. Further, and also significantly, Campbell’s med school ranks 11th in Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care, with 41.1 percent of graduates practicing in primary care. 

Schools were assessed on their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence, U.S. News says.