A local doctor and Campbell University graduate is establishing a $100,000 scholarship to help students enrolled at the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM).
The Thomas A. Wilson, MD, and Family Medical Endowed Scholarship Fund is targeted toward students who’ve lived in Lee and Harnett counties, as well as those who’ve lived in North Carolina. The scholarship also gives preference to students who earned an undergraduate degree from Campbell.
“Dr. Wilson understands the challenges of rural healthcare because he lived them,” said Dr. David Tolentino, interim med school dean. “His extraordinary generosity strengthens the CUSOM mission to train physicians who will serve rural and underserved communities. The Thomas A. Wilson, MD, and Family Medical Endowed Scholarship not only honors his journey but also ensures that future osteopathic physicians have the support they need to make a lasting impact across North Carolina.”
Dr. Tom Wilson, who was raised on a small tobacco farm in the western part of Harnett County, has spent most of his career in psychiatric medicine, serving patients throughout Harnett and Lee counties, where he continues to practice. Wilson graduated from Campbell College, summa cum laude, in 1968, with a major in chemistry. He received his medical license in 1974.
Wilson says the inspiration and support he received from his professors at Campbell College was key to his success, and that sense of gratitude led him to establish the scholarship.
He became the first in his family to attend college when he enrolled at Campbell, where he studied under legendary chemistry professors Edna Queener Proffit and James M. Jung. He majored in chemistry and earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill before completing a residency in psychiatry.
Wilson then returned home to live and to practice. He served as Clinical and Medical director for the Lee-Harnett Mental Health Authority, a public agency with main offices in Sanford and Buies Creek, from 1979 until 2005, when the agency merged with a larger mental health provider.
Wilson, who lives in Sanford with his wife, Sandra, remains passionate about giving back to the next generation of medical professionals, said Grant Harden, director of Planned Giving, Estate Planning at Campbell.
Wilson also recognizes the significant financial burden that comes with pursuing a medical degree.
The inspiration and support I received from professors at Campbell College was key to his success as a doctor, and that sense of gratitude led to the scholarship.
The Wilson scholarship will go to eligible students with the following preferences:
- Any full-time student pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree who ever resided in either Lee County or Harnett County in North Carolina and holds a prior four-year degree from Campbell University.
- Any full-time student pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree who ever resided in North Carolina and holds a prior four-year degree from Campbell University.
- Any full-time student pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree who has ever resided in North Carolina.
The medical school welcomed its inaugural class in 2013, with its first graduating class in 2017.
The mission of Campbell’s medical school is serving the underserved, reaching out to rural populations and bringing needed care to these communities. Training physicians to bring care to those rural communities and, ultimately, remaining there to live and to work, throughout North Carolina and the Southeastern U.S.
Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, or DOs, now practice across a wide range of medical disciplines, combining their expertise with a whole-person approach centered on listening to and partnering with their patients, according to the 2025 Osteopathic Medical Profession Report. Today, the osteopathic medical profession represents about 11 percent of all physicians and more than 25 percent of all medical students in the U.S.