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Associate Professor Devon Noonan, PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, CARN, FAAN, is a project lead for the Interdisciplinary Hub for Rural Health Equity, one of three faculty-led projects to receive a from the Office of the Provost, with Provost Alec D. Gallimore calling the hubs “an important new mechanism for enabling exceptionally promising projects to take the next leap forward and a key strategic investment at an uncertain time for research funding.”  

Dr. Noonan answered questions about the hub, which is housed at the School of Nursing and aims to tackle critical health disparities in rural North Carolina, where residents face higher rates of chronic health conditions and have limited access to care due to economic, social, and geographic barriers.  

Your team’s project was one of only three from a field of 68 faculty proposals to receive funding. What makes this project a priority for ɫ��ֱ�� in research, education, and engagement?   

ɫ��ֱ�� resides in North Carolina, which boasts the second highest rural population in the country. Our hub grew from the idea that we need to be doing more with and for rural communities in our state and that we currently lack a unified approach at ɫ��ֱ�� to address rural health inequities despite our proximity and position in a predominantly rural state.     

Your project looks to expand community partnerships and co-create research to better support rural North Carolinians. What will be your initial partnership and research priorities?  

We are looking to broaden our partnerships across the state. We have proposed to establish Regional Rural Health Incubators (RRI), a readily available and accessible networking infrastructure that will sustain and enhance community partnerships. Our first RRI will be in Vance County, as we have strong partnerships there with the Health Department and other community organizations. We will use this model to expand across the state. The hope is that the RRIs will include some sort of shared physical space where academics, policy makers, industry, and community come together to share information and develop solutions.  

This project is a collaboration by ɫ��ֱ�� experts in nursing, engineering, social sciences, and divinity. Can you speak to how these areas intersect to impact rural health?  

This is what I think set our project apart from the field—our MPI team that includes myself, [Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering] Dr. Jessilyn Dunn, [Director of Applied Research, Evaluation, & Engagement in the Social Science Research Institute] Dr. Jessica Sperling, and [Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics] Dr. Wylin Wilson, bringing together disciplines that traditionally do not collaborate to address rural health equity. This integration of our discipline-specific research and teaching will foster a synergy where discovery stimulates learning, and research outcomes are disseminated rapidly and effectively. The multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary engagement that our Hub will cultivate is essential to achieve this goal. Our center will uniquely integrate disciplines that traditionally do not collaborate deeply to co-produce solutions for chronic health conditions, fostering innovative and holistic approaches to complex challenges associated with rural health equity. We will do this by using team science approaches and methods such as co-design practices, cross-disciplinary data sharing, and communication and collaboration training.  

Our Hub is also designed to coalesce key efforts of numerous complementary centers and initiatives here at ɫ��ֱ��, including , , the , the Mobile-Prevention and Care Team here at the School of Nursing, , the , the , , , and the , so we can find ways to synergize and work together around addressing rural health equity, as we truly are better together.  

How do you envision creating avenues for student learning as part of this project?  

One of the aims of the Hub is to develop and enhance interdisciplinary training opportunities that focus on addressing rural health inequities. For example, we will have designated rural-focused capstones and summer internships for undergraduate and graduate students. We will establish the inaugural rural equity research fellowship, an interdisciplinary post-doctoral fellowship focused on addressing rural health inequities. We will also have multiple opportunities for trainees to interface with our Rural Community of Practice and Regional Rural Incubator.  

Your team plans to lay the groundwork to support broader issues including climate, AI equity, and food insecurity. When facing these daunting challenges, what are examples of how your work could scale to create impact?  

We are really setting up the infrastructure and proving training so academics can engage in meaningful collaborations with rural communities, whatever the issue may be. This infrastructure and training will focus on chronic disease, but can easily translate to addressing these other challenges.  

How did you become involved with rural health work, and what keeps you motivated and inspired?  

I was exposed to working in rural health first as an FNP student during my training. I then went to UVA for graduate school and continued my rural work there with incredible mentors and continued to do volunteer work as an RN and NP in rural VA during my training. This thread continued with me doing work in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during my post-doc fellowship and now, since coming to ɫ��ֱ�� and North Carolina 13 years ago. What keeps me inspired, hands down, is the people, partnerships, and relationships that I have built based on mutual goals, which has been so rewarding. The strength, community connections, and ingenuity of rural communities are all so inspiring.