UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC

Linnea Carlson, PhD, MPH, is the current Co-Director of the UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings MPH Program. She is trained as a medical anthropologist and specializes in the intersections of culture, health, and structural inequalities. Dr. Carlson received her PhD in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, and an MPH in International Community Health from New York University. Prior to joining UNC Asheville as a faculty member in 2022, she taught undergraduate courses in Massachusetts. Her research over the last 25 years has focused primarily on mental health, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, Type II diabetes, and childhood asthma, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Bryan Hodge, DO, works each day to ensure MAHEC is making a positive difference in the community. As chair of the Department of Community and Public Health at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, Dr. Hodge leads initiatives to expand community outreach, build pathways that support equitable access to health careers, and train public health leaders through the school of public health. A former National Health Service Corps Scholar, he has committed his career to providing high-quality relational care and serving his community. He continues to practice and teach family medicine with the Hendersonville Rural Family Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Hodge’s special interests include creating new models of care delivery, rural workforce development, and interdisciplinary health professions training. He believes that community health transformation requires a strong commitment to community engagement, collaboration, and innovation.

Dr. Hodge is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. He helps residency programs across the country achieve educational and clinical excellence through his role as a Residency Practice Solutions consultant for the American Academy of Family Practice.

Katherine Jowers, DDS understands the chasm that exists between achieving oral health and the social, economic, educational, and systemic barriers that stand in the way of achieving it. As Chair of MAHEC’s Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, she heads clinical care and dental health profession education, as well as outreach and interprofessional initiatives that expand access to oral health education and care. She is also a UNC professor and the director of the UNC Adams Rural Oral Health and Wellness (AROW) Scholars, an innovative UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC program that provides educational and clinical care opportunities for UNC dental students who intend to establish practice in underserved NC communities.

Dr. Jowers is a Western North Carolina native, an honors graduate of the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, and a long-time advocate for oral health in our region. In her two decades in WNC, she has created nationally recognized hospital- and community-based oral health programs. She is committed to expanding MAHEC’s oral health initiatives in new and exciting directions.

Mollie Scott, PharmD, BCACP, CPP, FASHP, is chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC and regional associate dean for UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, where she oversees the school’s Asheville campus. Dr. Scott is also a practicing clinical pharmacist who is responsible for the initial development of MAHEC’s ambulatory care pharmacy services and residency programs. Dr. Scott recognizes the key role clinical pharmacists play in improving health outcomes, and she ensures MAHEC pharmacists and pharmacy students are engaged in interprofessional care teams and research projects. Her clinical interests include geriatrics and women’s and rural health. She is committed to training clinical pharmacists who can develop sustainable ambulatory care services and demonstrate their value for improving the quality of patient care and reducing healthcare costs.

Dr. Scott is a nationally recognized pharmacotherapy educator and leader who has been named a fellow by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) for her work to advance the profession. She currently serves as a task force chair for the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, and she is a former chair of ASHP’s Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners.

As Co-Director of the UNC Asheville – UNC Gillings MPH Program, Sarah teaches leadership and place-based health theory and implementation and develops practicum and culminating experience opportunities for Asheville MPH students. For over twenty-five years, Sarah has worked with broad-based Healthy Carolinians partnerships, health departments, federally qualified health centers, and medical practices to promote community health and develop the rural health workforce in Western North Carolina (WNC) and West Virginia. As a NC DHHS consultant with the Division of Public Health, she helped WNC health departments and Healthy Carolinians partnerships assess and address community health priorities. She also developed school-based health centers, interprofessional initiatives to improve geriatric care, and community campaigns to promote heart disease management and long acting reversible contraception. Her research and practice interests lie in promoting oral health, interprofessional education, and helping clinicians engage communities to promote evidence-based care. She graduated from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health with an MPH in health behavior/ health education and Harvard University with a BA in social anthropology and women’s studies.

Sandy Whitlock, MD, has been a palliative care physician at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC since 2015. She received her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Following internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago, she completed the Harvard Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship.

After fellowship, she practiced as a palliative medicine attending at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and served as an Instructor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. While at MGH, Dr. Whitlock was active in teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. During her time in Boston, she also completed the Harvard Medical Ethics Fellowship.

Dr. Whitlock currently serves as the Assistant Program Director for the Asheville Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship and the Associate Program Director for the UNC School of Medicine Asheville Campus. She remains active in teaching learners at all levels. She is particularly interested in teaching advanced communication skills.

Sandy has loved living in Asheville with her husband and three kids. She loves running and gardening.