A group of Campbell University students have earned academic scholarships as they work toward their respective degrees in healthcare.
The medical students have myriad reasons for choosing Campbell, not the least of which are its stellar reputation for training osteopathic physicians and healthcare professionals, a sense of community and caring among students and its ongoing commitment to serving traditionally underserved patients and rural communities.
Recent scholarship recipients are Claire Bullard of Pembroke, Lesley Chao of Apex, and Ashlyn Acheson of Overland Park, Kansas.
Bullard earned a $5,000 scholarship from the Native Forward Scholars Fund and is entering her third year at the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Chao is a dual student, pursuing degrees in the Master of Science in Public Health and Physician Assistant Practice at Campbell’s School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She earned a Stephen J. Lawler Leadership in Healthcare Scholarship, which is $2,500 and sponsored by the N.C. Healthcare Association.
Acheson, who is entering her second year of medical school, earned a $5,000 scholarship from AdventHealth South Overland Park Medical Staff in Kansas.
Claire Bullard
Bullard is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The tribe, Bullard says, does a great job of encouraging the community to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees. She heard about the scholarship from a friend and applied, gaining support from a mentor, who is a local pediatrician, among others.
“I was very grateful for that support from the community,” said Bullard, who did her undergraduate work at Clemson University. “I’m very honored to represent my Lumbee Tribe and honored to receive the scholarship.”
“The Native Forward Scholars Fund is the largest direct scholarship provider to Native students in the U.S.,” its website says. “We have empowered over 22,000 students from over 500 Tribes in all 50 states in pursuit of their undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.”
Bullard, entering her third year in med school, is preparing for her medical board exams and says she’s looking forward to her clinical rotations. She recently attended a conference focusing on family medicine in Palm Springs, California.
“I’m definitely very excited about family medicine, and think that’s probably where I’ll end up,” said Bullard, whose mother graduated from Campbell’s School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Bullard cited her work with Campbell’s Community Care Clinics, under the leadership of Dr. Joe Cacioppo, who chairs Community and Global Medicine and an associate professor of emergency medicine at Campbell.
“He’s such a great mentor,” Bullard says of Cacioppo. “Anytime that I’ve presented him with a case, he’s really been patient with me, and the students that were working with me, as well. He just let us kind of talk through all of our questions and thoughts, and then watching him go in with the patient … they kind of just kind of light up to his warmth.”
Bullard is a member of Campbell’s family medicine club. She served as the club’s chair of geriatrics, forming a teaching and mentoring relationship with Dr. Christine Khandelwal. She’s a professor of Family Medicine and director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Campbell and a renowned national expert in those fields.
“Hopefully, in my clinical rotations, I can find a way to be more involved in (geriatric and palliative care), because that is something I’m passionate about.”
Dr. Robert Agnello, an assistant professor of Family Medicine at Campbell, has played, and continues to play, an integral role in teaching, mentoring, supporting and encouraging not only these students but also medical and healthcare students throughout Campbell’s med school.
“Claire truly is a bright shining light, truly her name defined — clear and bright,” Agnello says. “An energy emits from her soul that can be felt when she enters the room. She is truly deserving of such an honor.”
Bullard says the med school is “definitely a hidden gem. I rave about Campbell. I really love it here.”
Lesley Chao
Chao is a dual student, pursuing degrees in the Master of Science in Public Health and Master of Physician Assistant Practice at Campbell’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She earned the Stephen J. Lawler Leadership in Healthcare Scholarship, which is $2,500 and sponsored by the N.C. Healthcare Association.
Chao is pursuing a dual degree at Campbell — master’s degrees in Public Health and Physician Assistant Practice. Chao, who plans to graduate in spring 2027, also works with WakeMed as an emergency department technician.
She has a passion for public health, for women’s health and for serving the underserved, which speaks directly to the mission at Campbell. And she’s already made an impact.
Chao founded the CPHS Women’s Health Interest Group, which aims to bring students together to learn about important and often complex women’s healthcare issues while also working with nonprofits and community organizations.
Volunteering to provide support to callers on the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which she began doing this past fall, is especially fulfilling, says Chao, who did her undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina and earned a master’s degree in Physiology from N.C. State.
“It’s been really interesting to be able to work alongside providers, as well as volunteers, to just talk to people,” she says. “It’s important for providers to know the logistical challenges that patients go through to attain healthcare, outside of just getting to the clinic.”
To help address the opioid crisis, Chao is implementing an initiative establishing a naloxone training and distribution program, partnering with Agnello.
She gathered overdose data, surveyed county resources to identify gaps in access to naloxone — used to reverse an opioid overdose — and devised practical solutions to bridge them, Agnello says.
Chao’s goal is to arrange regular sessions to teach faculty, staff and students about the drug, training them to recognize the signs of an overdose and if necessary, administer it.
“What began as an idea quickly transformed into a well-organized, impactful initiative,” Agnello said.
Chao had many reasons for choosing Campbell, but her experience as a pharmacy technician and relationship with a pharmacist helped lead her to Buies Creek.
The pharmacist, a Campbell alum, became a mentor.
“I got to see her counsel patients and (she helped me) understand the relationship between a provider and a patient,” Chao says.
“I didn’t feel like pharmacy was my end goal, but I wanted to work directly with patients, and she helped me see that. So, I think that her just being at Campbell, and telling me about her time at Campbell and how much she learned there, kind of pushed me toward it.”
Chao is proud of her scholarship from the N.C. Healthcare Association, which advocates for hospitals and health systems.
“I was looking at healthcare scholarships that might apply to me, and I thought this is a really good one because (the N.C. Healthcare Association) definitely focuses on improving healthcare for North Carolinians,” she says. “One of their biggest missions is advocacy, and that’s (among) my greatest goals. … making our healthcare workforce more resilient and improving care for patients.”
Ashlyn Acheson
As an undergraduate, Acheson attended Baylor University, where she majored in biochemistry. Specializing in surgery in med school was a clear goal.
“Coming into medical school, I knew for sure that I wanted to do surgery. I talked with Dr. (Amanda) Baright, and she told me that would benefit from shadowing various surgeons,” Acheson said.
Baright is chair of surgery at Campbell.
“I’m shooting for orthopedic surgery and, specifically, I think it would be really cool to do orthopedic surgery in addition to sports medicine and then possibly work with professional or collegiate athletes.”
Agnello, for one, is confident she’ll reach those goals.
“Ashlyn is academically excelling,” he wrote. “She already is involved in significant research work and leadership efforts. She represents the vision and mission of Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine well.”
The scholarship is just one outcome of Acheson’s outstanding work so far. She is secretary of the med school’s Student Government Association, vice president of the Clinical Spanish Interest Club and serves on the Research and Scholarship Committee.
She also is an intramural basketball champion and volunteers at Campbell’s Community Care Clinics.
Acheson, whose parents grew up in rural Nebraska, says she continues to admire Campbell’s supportive staff and faculty, as well as its “gorgeous” medical campus. She likes the rural setting, too, and the lack of distractions often found at larger, more urban universities.
She also is comfortable with the smaller classes and the vibe of a close-knit community. Acheson knows the professors, of course, but they know her, as well, always willing to take a minute to talk or to help, wherever they are on campus, she says.
“We’re here to learn,” she says. “It really is a full-time job and a half, trying to learn as much as you can.”