Building North Carolina’s health workforce by developing career pathways

To help address these disparities and grow the state's workforce, UnitedHealth Group made a $3 million, four-year grant to the UNC Health Foundation to support the Robert A. Ingram Institute for Healthcare Access.

Since its inception in 2024, the Ingram Institute has focused on building a sustainable health workforce and expanding equitable access to care in rural and underserved communities across North Carolina. As one of the nation's fastest-growing states with the second-largest rural population in the U.S. behind Texas, North Carolina stands to benefi from investment in these critical areas.

"This partnership is trying to answer a fundamental question facing the U.S. health system: How do we move from treating illness to building health - at scale - in places at risk of getting left behind?"

Danielle Gray | executive vice president of External and Corporate Affairs, UnitedHealth Group

The Ingram Institute's model is already making a difference by empowering young students through new experiential learning opportunities, including a new course for UNC undergraduates that has provided more than 200 students the opportunity to serve in patient-facing roles such as "patient sitters," a role traditionally filled by nurses and certified nursing assistants. Course training, including CPR, gives students firsthand experience working in health care. 

"That first semester, a student named Neha responded to a patient emergency while working as a patient sitter," recalls Meg Zomorodi, PhD, RN, vice president of the Ingram Institute. "She hit the code blue button, checked for a pulse and performed CPR on a patient in an adjoining room who had collapsed."

She performed CPR until an emergency response team arrived. The patient survived. The student saved a life.

In addition to creating learning opportunities for students, the Ingram Institute is focused on creating pathways for rural health professionals seeking to re-enter the health workforce or grow their skills.

"Too often, talented students step off the path simply because they never saw health care as a possibility. By identifying these critical moments and creating interventions that keep students engaged, Ingram turns potential exit points into opportunities, ensuring more bright minds continue forward to serve our communities."

Meg Zomorodi, PhD, RN | vice president, Ingram Institute

"This partnership is trying to answer a fundamental question facing the U.S. health system: How do we move from treating illness to building health - at scale - in places at risk of getting left behind?" Gray said.

This is just one of several investments UnitedHealth Group has made to support better health in North Carolina.

For example, the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of North Carolina recently established the Future Leaders in Health Scholarship Program, providing $500,000 in grants to benefit 400 students pursuing both short-term credentials and degrees in health care across 35 community colleges in the state.

"UnitedHealth Group is committed to being part of the solution," Gray said, "and we're proud to partner across North Carolina and the country to help build a stronger, more sustainable health care workforce - and a system that works better for the people it serves."

• 80,000+ hours

  Employees volunteered more than 80,000 hours for organizations and nonprofits across the state in 2025.

• >700 homes

  UnitedHealth Group has funded the construction or rehab of more than 700 affordable homes across the state, since 2020.

Having the conversation

The partnership was featured in a sponsored View From The Top interview segment at Axios Live in Raleigh, N.C., on April 16, 2026, including a moderated conversation with Gray and Zomorodi. The conversation focused on both organizations' efforts to strengthen the future health workforce, improve health care and keep people healthy.