Mehul Patel, PhD, an emergency medicine researcher at the UNC School of Medicine and former TraCS KL2 scholar, says that when it comes to strokes, "time is brain."—any clinician or researcher who studies stroke will tell you that time is the most important factor. Patel is building on his TraCS KL2 research, trying to ensure that everyone, no matter what part of the country they live in, can get life-saving stroke care.

Donna Culton, a dermatologist at the UNC School of Medicine enrolled in the Clinical Trialist Training Program (CTTP) offered through NC TraCS—a program that helped her make the switch from being someone who works on clinical trials to being someone who has the skillset to plan, design, oversee, and empower the kinds of trials that drive her field of research forward.

Michelle Hernandez, the co-PI of the NC TraCS K12 program and a pediatric allergist and immunologist at the UNC School of Medicine, was featured in the article Breathing Beyond Barriers Dive into her work leading asthma research in rural communities across North Carolina to make care and clinical studies more accessible. Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition that impacts nearly 25 million Americans, including about 5 million children, according to the CDC.

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