About

Brody MedPals is a student-run mentorship and outreach organization at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, serving K–12 students across eastern North Carolina. Founded by Eduardo Castañeda in October 2023, MedPals partners with rural and under-resourced middle schools, high schools, and early colleges in Pitt County and surrounding counties to expose students to medicine, science, and health-care careers through hands-on programming and near-peer mentorship. The program is grounded in a simple thesis: the doctors who stay are the ones who came from here.

MedPals is grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory, which hold that career aspirations form through observed role models who reflect a student's own background and identity.

The organization is officially recognized by the Brody School of Medicine Office of Student Affairs and operates as a sanctioned student organization at East Carolina University. MedPals has been honored with East Carolina University's Outstanding Educational Program of the Year award and the Pitt County Board of Education's Creating Excellence in the East award, both received during the 2024–2025 academic year.

Our Programming & Impact

MedPals delivers in-school anatomy and physiology modules using heart and lung models, on-campus exposure days at the Brody School of Medicine — smaller two-hour sessions bringing 20–30 students into the simulation center for focused experiences such as code blue simulation — and an annual flagship event called MedVentures that brings approximately 125 middle and high school students to campus for a full day of hands-on workshops, simulation lab experiences, and direct mentorship from medical students. MedPals has completed four MedVentures cycles since its founding and has reached approximately 2,000 students across all programming. Partner schools include D.H. Conley, Ayden-Grifton, Farmville Central, Greene Central, J.H. Rose, North Pitt, C.M. Eppes, Wellcome, South Central, E.B. Aycock, and Pitt Early College. MedPals also delivers programming at the Young Scholars and Leaders Summer Camp, a community program led by Councilmember Portia Willis serving youth in eastern North Carolina.

Regional Collaboration & Growth

MedPals collaborates with Dr. Jerry Johnson, Director of ECU's Rural Education Institute and Principal Investigator for Community Schools, and is recognized within the Rural Education Institute's network of rural education programming across eastern North Carolina. In April 2026, MedPals was a featured initiative at the ECU GRAD Partnership End-of-Year Celebration, with a one-hour dedicated presentation slot alongside the Rural Education Institute's annual program review. Following that presentation, MedPals entered early collaborative conversations with school districts across eastern North Carolina — including counties currently outside MedPals' established footprint — about expanding the program's reach in coordination with the Rural Education Institute.

Leadership

MedPals is led by a medical-student board at the Brody School of Medicine, with an undergraduate chapter at East Carolina University.

Current Medical Board (2026–2027): Amy Liu (President), Jakob Heiser (Vice President), Matthew Thomas (Secretary/Treasurer), Sayeed Kabir (Service Coordinator), and Alicia Spencer (Curriculum Manager).

Current Undergraduate Co-Presidents: Brianna Falcone and Gabriel Hamill, leading the ECU undergraduate chapter.

Past Medical Boards

2025–2026: Christiana Higgs (President) and Joanne Azar (President), Rachel Smith (Vice President), Dana Nguyen (Secretary), Denise Zangwill (School Outreach Coordinator), and Naimi Pothiwala (Social Media Coordinator).

2024–2025: Dylan Pressnell (President), Michael Li (Vice President), Christiana Higgs (Secretary), Heeral Lakhani (Treasurer), Sasank Sivadanam (School Outreach Coordinator), and Denise Zangwill (Social Media Coordinator).

2023–2024 (Founding Board): Eduardo Castañeda (Founder & President), Dylan Pressnell (Vice President), Michael Li (Secretary), Christiana Higgs and Deanna Torres (School Outreach Coordinators), and Denise Zangwill (Social Media Coordinator).

Past Undergraduate Co-Presidents: Trisha Rangaraju and Kendall Pixley, Brinkley-Lane Scholars who anchored the ECU undergraduate chapter in its first two years.

Our Founding Story

MedPals was founded in October 2023 at the Brody School of Medicine as a near-peer mentorship pipeline connecting medical students to under-resourced K–12 schools across Pitt County and surrounding rural counties. The organization was built on a simple idea: that students who never see a doctor who looks like them, or who never set foot inside a medical school, are far less likely to imagine themselves in health care. MedPals was designed to break that pattern by bringing medical students directly into rural classrooms, and by bringing rural students directly onto Brody's campus for hands-on workshops in anatomy, simulation, and clinical care. The doctors who stay, MedPals holds, are the ones who came from here.

Recognition & Coverage

Brody MedPals is an officially recognized student organization at the Brody School of Medicine. ECU News reported on a hands-on anatomy day that broadened horizons for eastern NC high schoolers, and Greenville's Daily Reflector covered Brody MedPals' anatomy program for eastern North Carolina students. Co-president Trisha Rangaraju earned ECU's Truist Excellence in Student Leadership Award, and co-president Kendall Pixley was featured in an ECU Pirate Profile. The ECU Honors College announced a Brody MedPals service event in eastern North Carolina.

Contact & Partnership Inquiries

Educators, school administrators, faculty collaborators, and community partners interested in bringing MedPals programming to their schools or districts can reach the medical school branch at brodymedpals@gmail.com or the undergraduate branch at ecumedpals@gmail.com. MedPals is officially recognized through the Brody School of Medicine Office of Student Affairs at medicine.ecu.edu/studentaffairs/medpals.