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The Fully Integrated Readiness Service Training (FIRST) Program has announced its third class of students. With funding support from The Duke Endowment, medical students Bailey Minish, Bailey Allen, and Amy Moulthrop have been accepted into this accelerated medical curriculum. These students were chosen for this honor based on their commitment to Family Medicine and service to vulnerable populations, academic record, leadership qualities, and potential for success in serving the residents of North Carolina.


The Fully Integrated Readiness Service Training (FIRST) Program has announced its third class of students. With funding support from The Duke Endowment, medical students Bailey Minish, Bailey Allen, and Amy Moulthrop have been accepted into this accelerated medical curriculum. These students were chosen for this honor based on their commitment to Family Medicine and service to vulnerable populations, academic record, leadership qualities, and potential for success in serving the residents of North Carolina.

The UNC School of Medicine is pleased to announce the acceptance of the third class of the Fully Integrated Readiness for Service Training (FIRST) Program. With funding support from The Duke Endowment, medical students Bailey Minish, Bailey Allen, and Amy Moulthrop have been accepted into this accelerated medical curriculum. These students were chosen for this honor based on their commitment to Family Medicine and service to vulnerable populations, academic record, leadership qualities, and potential for success in serving the residents of North Carolina.

The FIRST Program provides participants the opportunity to complete their MD in three years and, subject to academic and performance standards, includes the opportunity for placement with a Family Medicine Residency program of North Carolina, after which scholars will take part in three years of service in an underserved area of North Carolina. They will receive ongoing support from UNC Department of Family Medicine in partnership with the NC Office of Rural Health and Community Care, AHEC, Piedmont Health Services, and the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. One of the unique qualities of the FIRST curriculum is the early integration of students into the clinical setting. Students work closely with a family physician while completing their coursework for rare, real-time application of new knowledge. Other schools across the nation have used accelerated tracks to help address their states’ workforce needs, but none have included the full pipeline from medical school, to residency, to primary care service to the underserved post-residency. FIRST is one of a kind, showing great commitment from UNC and affiliated partners to make a difference in the health of North Carolinians who need access to well-trained primary care doctors. These latest scholars will complete their medical school training in May 2020, enter residency, and begin practicing medicine in an underserved NC community as early as 2023.

Program Scholars:

MinishFIRST

Bailey Minish graduated from UNC in Biology and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Physiology at NC State. Originally from Asheville, Bailey is passionate about preventive medicine and caring for people across the age continuum. She has traveled and studied internationally and participated in a Spanish Immersion program in Chile and Spain.

AllenFIRST

Bailey Allen grew up in Whiteville, NC and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Biology and Public Health. His commitment to rural communities in NC, his leadership potential, and academic performance won him both Levine Scholars and Gold Leaf Scholars recognition.

MoulthropFIRST

Amy Moulthrop is from Los Angeles and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She is committed to serving vulnerable populations as a family doctor and has made North Carolina her home. She has done extensive research in biodiversity and integrative biology in French Polynesia and Korea. Amy was a Global Korea Scholarship recipient in 2013.

For more information about the FIRST program, please visit the website https://www.med.unc.edu/md/studentscholars/first/.