Marie Callahan: Helping veterans access health care
May 27, 2016
Marie Callahan (right) accepts a diploma at her Defense Language Institute graduation. (Contributed photo)
Marie Callahan, MSPH, RT(R), exemplifies personal passion for public health.
As administrative officer for care in the community at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Durham, N.C., Callahan coordinates care for veterans through the Veteran’s Choice Program. Through the program, veterans enrolled in a VA healthcare system can receive medical services in their own communities rather than having to travel to distant VA health centers.
Callahan chose her career based upon first-hand experience with veterans’ needs. From 2006 to 2008, she was a senior airman working as a Korean linguist in the U.S. Air Force — until an injury cut short her service. Experiencing chronic pain, she sought medical care through the VA, but was frustrated repeatedly by the system’s bureaucratic tangles.
Eventually, Callahan reached her limits. She applied to study in the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) at the UNC Gillings School.
“My goal,” she says, “was to put myself in a position to prevent fellow veterans from experiencing what I went through.”
Bruce Fried, PhD, HPM associate professor and director of the residential master’s program, says that active military personnel and veterans have studied in the department for more than 25 years; 24 active or veteran service people became HPM graduates in the last five years alone.
“During that time,” he says, “we have seen consistently how these individuals enrich the education of their fellow students.”
Callahan graduated from the Gillings School in May 2014. Today, it’s clear she has landed exactly where she needs to be.
This story originally was published in the Spring 2016 edition of Carolina Public Health Magazine.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
