Student: Madisyn French

Although East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine student Madisyn French is far from her hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, she is eager to establish her role in the clinical environment of Ross Hall.

Dental student Madisyn French received her white coat early this year and will soon begin providing clinical care to patients in Ross Hall. (Photo by Jon Jones)

French, who just began her third year of dental school, received her white coat alongside her classmates earlier this year in the school’s traditional ceremony and is ready to put the skills she’s learned in the classroom and labs to good use. She is eager to provide clinical care to patients while establishing a strong level of trust and rapport with them as well.

“We dabbled in clinical care a little bit at the end of our D2 year, but in our D3 year, we’ll be in clinic three days a week, working with patients and doing rotations through pediatrics, emergency and oral surgery,” she said. “It’s a big step and we’re going to be doing a lot of things we’ve never done before. It’s going to be humbling and nerve-racking, but it’s also really exciting.”

French, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, also hopes to provide an option for patients who want to seek care from health care providers who look like them and share cultural ties — and to serve as a role model for children from Cherokee.

“It’s intimidating when you walk into a building and you see no one who looks like you,” she said, “and it’s sometimes more difficult to trust people if there’s no one to understand your very unique background and the cultural importance of things. I’m excited to be in this position; it’s a good example for younger women and men of different cultural backgrounds to see that they can do this too.”

French is a member of the Class of 2027, a particularly tight-knit group among the dental school’s classes — all of which bring unique leadership skills, passions, motivations and paths to Ross Hall.

“One of my favorite parts of dental school so far has been just really bonding with my classmates,” she said. “Our first year of school, it was wonderful to see these strangers who just happen to be in the same program become family.”

When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina last fall, French’s classmates learned that she hoped to take essential supplies to those in need when she returned to Cherokee during a break.

“I asked my classmates for clothes and shoes that they had been wanting to get rid of,” she said. “They really rallied behind me and some of our other classmates from the mountains, and they raised around $500 for us to purchase supplies and essential items. We bought about 200 toothbrushes and toothpaste to make little hygiene bags that we disbursed throughout the area.”

That show of solidarity was part of French’s transition to her new home in Greenville and Ross Hall.

She attended Western Carolina University in Cullowhee for undergraduate studies — not far from Cherokee. She majored in biology and earned a minor in psychology. After graduation, she worked as a certified nursing assistant in nursing homes and the hospital. During that time, she discovered a passion for helping patients care for their oral health — an area that she noticed needed more attention. She was primarily working with patients with special needs and others who were recovering from strokes who needed help with daily tasks.

“A lot of my duties fell on getting them ready for bed,” she said. “A lot of that was making sure their teeth were brushed. I had a lot of patients who had full dentures or partials that needed to be cleaned, so I started spending a lot of time doing that for my patients.”

That experience sparked a double dose of passion in French — oral health care and working with patients who have special needs.

One of the School of Dental Medicine’s biggest areas of focus is caring for patients with special needs, so French decided to take advantage of the expertise of faculty, the specialized clinics and opportunities for exposure to this niche type of care.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with my special needs patients,” she said. “It wasn’t always the sought-after hall to be on when I was a CNA, but it’s just a very rewarding patient population to work with.”

French is also preparing to conduct research around special needs care alongside Dr. Sukyung Moon, clinical assistant professor in special care dentistry. They will be focusing in particular on working with caregivers of patients with special needs to educate them on home oral health care, assess the areas where they need support, offer solutions and study whether there are improvements later on.

That opportunity is one reason French chose the ECU School of Dental Medicine.

“I fell in love with the mission,” she said. “As a person of color from a rural area, it means the world to me that they care so much about these populations across the state and are trying to bring health care to them. Where I’m from, if you need complex care, you have to drive anywhere from Asheville to Charlotte.”

French said that although it’s too early to know for certain, she hopes to return to western North Carolina to practice after graduation.

“I would definitely want to go back to the mountains,” she said. “Where exactly? I’m not sure yet. It depends on a lot of factors during my last two years here, but I’d be interested in floating around to different places or practices, offering care for special care needs patients or medically complex patients.”

To gain even more opportunities and service experiences, French is a member of the school’s Women in Dentistry club and the Special Care Dentistry Association. She served as video and content creation chair of the cabinet of the American Student Dental Association. She volunteers each year at Sonrié Clinic, a student-led event that provides care for migrant farmworkers and their families and communities. She also has helped coach youth soccer teams during the past year.

No matter where she ends up after graduation or after potentially completing a general practice residency, French wants to make a difference for the patients who need her, where they need her.

“I’m really excited,” she said, “to be a part of a change that’s bringing care closer to patients in rural communities.”