Healing Rural N.C., One Doctor At a Time

When Dr. Ahmed Ahmed clocks out after a 12-hour hospital shift in Lumberton, his work isn’t done.

At the grocery store, the gym, any time he’s out in the community, Ahmed fields questions from patients and their loved ones. Are colonoscopies really necessary? What does he think of this or that medication?

As a third-year internal medicine resident at UNC Health Southeastern, Ahmed faces more challenges than 80-hour work weeks. Robeson is one of the poorest and least healthy counties in North Carolina, and like many rural areas, it does not have enough doctors to treat patients with disproportionate rates of diabetes and heart failure.

Ahmed, 37, attended medical school in Shenyang, China, and has lived all over the world. But he figured he could learn a lot and make a big impact practicing medicine in a rural area like southeastern North Carolina.