Lumberton native awarded prestigious ECU medical school scholarship
Ross Masters, of Lumberton, was one of three incoming medical students at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine to be awarded the university’s most prestigious scholarship. (Photo courtesy of ECU)
A Lumberton native was one of three incoming medical students at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine to be awarded the university’s most prestigious scholarship.
Ross Masters was chosen for the Class of 2022 Brody Scholar award – valued at approximately $112,000 – which includes four years of medical school tuition, living expenses and the opportunity to design his own summer enrichment program that can include travel abroad. The award will also support community service projects he may undertake while in medical school.
The Lumberton High School graduate received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014.
Masters worked in Washington, D.C. for a year in sales before realizing that career path was not the right fit for him. After taking an EMT-Basic course back home in North Carolina, however, he determined that he wanted to devote his life to medicine.
“Shortly after finishing the course, I was driving home from a vacation when I witnessed a hit-and-run automobile accident. Knowing what to do and being useful on that scene immediately after the accident is, to date, one of the single most fulfilling moments of my life,” he said.
Masters – the son of John and Mary Ann Masters, also of Lumberton – said he was very thankful for his family’s encouragement during his difficult career change, which was not without its risks. He subsequently completed all of his medical school science prerequisites at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and said he hopes to become a well-rounded family physician.
“As a paramedic in Robeson County, a large portion of calls I answered had a single common denominator: poverty,” he said. “Seeing poverty’s impact firsthand turned my attention toward the social determinants of health. It also steered me toward family medicine, which I think is the field of medicine best equipped to address poverty-related health care issues.”
Masters said being named a Brody Scholar validates for him that the hard work he’s put in up to this point has been recognized.
“Going forward, it’s a responsibility to take this generous gift from the Brody Foundation and make sure I turn it into something valuable for my future patients,” he said. “My number one interest is to make sure my future patients get the health care they need to live the most fulfilling lives possible.”
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