Byrd Receives the 2026 Booth Community Service and Outreach Award 

The UNC School of Nursing has named Lori Byrd, DNP, MSN, RN, CNE, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Strategic Partnership, as the recipient of the 2026 Bill and Mary Lou Booth Community Service and Outreach Award. 

The Bill and Mary Lou Booth Community Service and Outreach Fund was established by the Booths in 2016 to support faculty and students who wish to engage in community service to better the health and welfare of North Carolinians. Byrd received the award for her proposal, “North Carolina Rural Whole Health Access and Navigation Program,” a service-learning initiative designed to improve access to care and care coordination for rural communities across North Carolina.  

Through this initiative, nurse practitioners and nursing students will collaborate with two rural community partners to provide patient-centered care coordination, health screenings, education, and navigation support. The program focuses on expanding access to preventive and primary care services, improving care coordination, addressing social determinants of health, and strengthening chronic disease self-management for rural patients.  

Supervised by Byrd and UNC School of Nursing faculty, students will conduct health assessments, promote medication adherence, identify barriers to care, and help connect patients with community resources and telehealth services. In addition to improving health outcomes for rural patients, the program will provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for nursing students and help prepare them to address rural health disparities in their future careers.  

The initiative is expected to serve around 150 patients annually through partnerships with rural clinical and community sites. The program will also strengthen academic–practice partnerships and support the development of a scalable model for rural engagement and workforce preparation.  

Lori Byrd is the eighth recipient, following Jessica Zègre-Hemsey in 2025, Kandyce Brennan, DNP, CNM, in 2024, Natalia Villegas Rodriguez, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC, FAAN, and Susana Barroso, PhD, RN, in 2023, Rhonda Lanning, DNP, CNM, LCCE, IBCLC, RN, in 2022, Marianne Cockroft, PhD, RN, in 2021, Jean Davison, DNP, RN, FNP-C, in 2019 and Rebecca Kitzmiller, PhD, MHR, RN, BC, in 2018. 

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