UNC Pembroke College of Health Sciences annual speaker series will be held on Monday, April 10. 

The event, “Becoming a Change Agent in Health Care: The Keys to Meaningful Academic and Career Journeys,” will be held at the University Center Annex. It is free and open to the public. A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m., followed by the speaker series at 7 p.m.

“...basically, this initiative was intended to bring renowned, professional folks into the university and let them share their expertise in various areas. And so, as we address health disparities, we wanted to make sure we had experts to come in and share information on team based care, technology and health care and looking at the social determinants of health and those kinds of things to share with our students, faculty as well as the community,” said Director of the Community Health & Wellness Institute Dr. Jackie Davis.

This has been an annual program since Dr. Davis joined the institute in 2020. 

Christopher Gaskins, a neurorehabilitation occupational therapist, will be the keynote for the event. Dr. Davis shared that the university was eager to invite Gaskins to the event in part due to his expertise in occupational therapy. UNCP is in the process of introducing an occupational therapy program at their school, and believe it will be a benefit for students, faculty, and community members to hear from an expert in the field. 

Gaskins developed a passion for neurorehabilitation while working as an occupational therapist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In 2019, he created Neurosuite, a mobile neurorehabilitation outpatient company, to address the shortage of neurorehabilitation specialists. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the neuroscience and cognitive science program at the University of Maryland and an adjunct professor at Howard University.

The speaker series will feature College of Health Science alumni Kenneth Joyner, Charles Kurtz and Chasity Hedgpeth, and UNCP student Anthonia Oladeji.

A licensed clinical social worker, Joyner owns Therapeutic Interactions Counseling Services. Kurtz taught special needs students for 28 years before returning to UNCP to earn a nursing degree. He now works as a registered nurse at Southeastern Health. Hedgpeth holds a degree in exercise sport science and is set to graduate from the MSW program in May. Oladeji, a senior chemistry major, has been accepted into the pharmacy program at the University of Georgia.

Attendees can use this form to pre-register for the event: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSferoRfEhgMIVJw4H1_2uKtlKTzC-I_223GuM2T4dqPlh-v1w/viewform