Benjamin Abel Archives

Nov 04, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Healing After Helene: One Pirate therapist’s call to serve

After Hurricane Helene struck the mountains of western North Carolina, word of the destruction leaked slowly from the mountainsides and overwashed valleys. For one Pirate alum, a family rescue mission...

Oct 27, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel
  • Ronnie Woodward

Interprofessional event recognizes housekeepers’ role in health care

Over two days in late September, more than 500 East Carolina University students gathered to consider the importance of all members of the health care team — learning from those...

Oct 14, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

ECU, community colleges partner to transform health information careers

An innovative partnership between the baccalaureate health information management program at East Carolina University’s College of Allied Health Sciences — and nearly a dozen community colleges across the state —...

A woman with dark hair sits in a dimly lit room next to a photo of a smiling man.
Oct 07, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Love, loss and becoming a Pirate nurse

Olivia Giambalvo found her person. And then just as quickly lost him to a devious disease. In the wake of the floor being pulled out from under her feet, she...

Aug 28, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

ECU nursing externship gives students real-world skills beyond the classroom

Chloe Hamlett, a fourth-semester East Carolina University nursing student from Nashville, North Carolina, could have spent her summer at the beach or working a part-time job at home. Instead, she...

A professor dressed in purple and gold poses in an industrial kitchen on ECU's campus.
Aug 27, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Nutrition professor aims to boost The Gambia’s public health system with Fulbright scholarship

In January, Dr. Toyin Babatunde, an associate professor of nutrition science in East Carolina University’s College of Allied Health Sciences, will head to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, to...

Aug 15, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Nurse’s global impact inspires gift for next generation of ECU nursing

The family of a Pirate Nurse is carrying on her spirit of 50 years of nursing service by funding a scholarship that has helped unburden the next generation of graduates...

A woman with dark hair in a suit stands outside under a row of trees.
Jul 09, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Staff: Jessica Miller

Jessica Miller, the director and pre-award administrator in the College of Nursing-College of Allied Health Sciences Research Administration Hub, took a temporary position at East Carolina University without a clear...

Two women separate food into bowls in a well-lit indoor space.
Jul 08, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Speech student blends science, compassion for dysphagia study

An undergraduate student in East Carolina University’s speech language pathology program is offering hope to those with dysphagia through a novel research project — testing kitchen blenders. Hannah Shook will...

A woman in grey medical scrubs stands in a simulated operating room with purple lights.
Jul 07, 2025
  • Benjamin Abel

Student: Michaela Davenport

Michaela Davenport said her path to East Carolina University and the College of Nursing wasn’t easy, or direct, but she has no doubt it was the right choice. Davenport is...