Dr. Robert Bashford, UNC leader and advocate for rural medicine, has died
Dr. Robert Bashford, a psychiatrist, professor and associate dean at the UNC School of Medicine who helped guide aspiring physicians into pockets of North Carolina where patients struggle to find care, died Tuesday.
Bashford, beloved by students and admired by colleagues, was 74, but continued to teach, practice and advocate for rural health care in North Carolina. His unexpected death was announced Wednesday in an email to UNC medical students, who are out on winter break.
“To mention here all he has done for medical education at UNC and for the state of NC is too difficult to do quickly,” Dr. Julie Story Byerley, executive vice dean for education and a professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, told students in the email. “He has done so much as a teacher, clinician, admissions dean, and in leading rural initiatives. He has truly had a remarkable career that has left many ripples across the miles.”
Since April 2017, Bashford had served as the School of Medicine’s associate dean for Rural Initiatives. That effort grew out of UNC’s Kenan Primary Care Scholars Program, which launched in 2013 as a way to identify and nurture students committed to service in underserved areas of the state, both rural and urban. The program is supported by the Kenan Trust, which provides scholarship funds where need to help medical school graduates be able to afford to work in needy areas.
In his role, Bashford helped build the vision and scope of the work of recruiting and training medical students who would provide care for those areas in need. He once said in an interview about the program that he looked for students “with a rural heart,” who would immerse themselves in the communities they served and commit to helping patients build healthier lives.
Byerley, reached by phone Thursday, said Bashford was from Raleigh but came to appreciate what rural residents often go through just to get basic medical care. After getting his undergraduate degree from N.C. State University, he went to medical school at UNC and went to work as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Wilmington.
Many of the patients he saw came from rural areas, he said, and they often had to overcome obstacles such as transportation problems just to make it to routine appointments.
In an interview, Bashford said he delivered about 1,500 babies before enrolling at the UNC School of Medicine again to study psychiatry, which is what he said he wanted to practice all along. He continued to see patients in addition to teaching psychiatry and helping to administer the Rural Initiatives program.
The Kenan Primary Care Scholars Program will send its first class of students into the world this year, and Byerley said all six plan to practice in rural areas of the state.
Megan Foster, 24, of Marion, is a rising third-year student in the program. Reached by phone Thursday, she said she remembers being interviewed by Bashford as a candidate. “We really connected,” she said. “I remember specifically that he liked that I worked two jobs in college, that I came from a small town, and that I was a first-generation college student. He understood what it was like to work your way through school.”
Bashford spoke at several UNC School of Medicine commencements and was beloved by students. He said in interviews that he loved their energy and their potential to do good.
“He was very passionate,” Foster said. “He led a great life. I hope I can be as great.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Dr. Robert Bashford, UNC leader and advocate for rural medicine, has died."
