What are the opening hours?

Monday 7am - 7pm Tuesday 7am - 7pm Wednesday 9:30am - 7pm Thursday 7am - 7pm Friday 7am - 7pm Saturday 8am - 12pm

UNC Family Medicine, 590 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC (2026)

12/23/2025

The holidays are here - a time many of us are gathering together, whether family, chosen family, friends, or colleagues. But it’s also peak flu season! In a recent UNC Health Talk feature, Amber Komorian, MD, MPH, Director of Academic Excellence with the UNC Family Medicine Residency, reminds us that a few simple steps can help keep celebrations healthy.

“The flu vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the risks of flu,” says Dr. Komorian. "Think of the vaccine as a type of body armor that protects you and your loved ones."

Other pointers from Komorian include: Wash your hands often, especially before meals and after being in public spaces. Make sure you're keeping up with healthy habits - enough sleep, exercise, and eating as well as possible will help your immune system. If you’re feeling sick, the best gift you can give is staying home to protect loved ones. When visiting high-risk family members or attending crowded indoor events, masking is still an option to consider.

A little prevention goes a long way toward making sure your holidays are memorable for all the right reasons!

Read the article: go.unc.edu/reduce-flu-risk

12/16/2025

The holiday season is a time for celebration, but it can also bring unique health challenges. Dr. Victoria Boggiano, MD, MPH, of UNC Family Medicine, was recently featured in a UNC Health Talk article, offering practical advice to help you stay healthy while enjoying the festivities.

In the article, Dr. Boggiano emphasizes the importance of balance and preparation during the holidays. Her tips include staying active even when schedules get busy, making mindful food choices without skipping indulgences, and prioritizing sleep to maintain energy and well-being. She also highlights strategies for managing stress, such as setting realistic expectations and carving out time for self-care.

“Small, intentional steps can make a big difference,” says Dr. Boggiano, a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Professional who helped launch the UNC Family Medicine Lifestyle Medicine Clinic this year. “The goal isn’t perfection—it’s finding ways to enjoy the season while supporting your health.”

From hydration reminders to creative ways to incorporate movement into holiday traditions, Dr. Boggiano’s guidance helps ensure that celebrations remain joyful and healthy.

Read the full article, "6 Holiday Health Tips for Santa—and You:" go.unc.edu/holiday-health-tips

12/11/2025

North Carolina is taking major steps to close a dangerous gap in care for people leaving prison: access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Research shows that the risk of dying from an overdose in the first two weeks after release is 50 times higher than for the general population. Yet, only about 37% of jails in North Carolina currently provide these lifesaving medications, such as buprenorphine or methadone, even though they are proven to reduce overdose deaths and help people stay in treatment.

A recent NC Health News article highlights how state leaders and advocates are working to ensure individuals with substance use disorders don’t lose access to treatment during this vulnerable transition. Evan Ashkin, MD, founder of the NC Formerly Incarcerated Transition (NC FIT) Program, explained, “We know the risk of overdose skyrockets immediately after release. Providing medications like buprenorphine or methadone during reentry isn’t just good medicine - it’s a matter of life and death.”

Currently, many incarcerated individuals begin medication-assisted treatment (MAT) while in prison but face barriers to continuing care once they return home. Without a clear handoff to community providers, people often relapse, increasing the risk of overdose and recidivism. Programs like NC FIT aim to close that gap by connecting people to primary care, behavioral health services, and social supports as soon as they leave prison. In 2024 alone, more than 20,000 people were released from North Carolina prisons, underscoring the urgent need for these services.

(Pictured: NC FIT team at last year's 5th anniversary - Ashkin 2nd from right)

Read the article: northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/12/04/nc-prisons-reentry-medications-opioid-use-disorder/

12/08/2025

WEATHER UPDATE:
Urgent Care at the UNC Family Medicine Center at Chapel Hill will close at 4:30PM on Monday, December 8th.

Urgent Care and the UNC Family Medicine Center clinics will open at 10am on Tuesday, December 9th.

Stay safe!

12/04/2025

Rana Alkhaldi, MD, was recently featured in a UNC Health Talk article discussing the importance of knowing your family health history. This information can be a powerful tool for prevention, early detection, and personalized care.

Dr. Alkhaldi explains that understanding your family’s medical background helps identify patterns and risk factors for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. She emphasizes that sharing this information with your healthcare team allows for more informed decisions about screenings, lifestyle changes, and treatment plans.

Dr. Alkhaldi offers practical advice for patients, including starting conversations with relatives about health conditions and ages of onset, documenting what you learn and keeping it up to date, and sharing this information with your primary care provider to guide preventive care.

“Your family health history is one of the most valuable tools we have for tailoring care to your unique needs,” says Dr. Alkhaldi. “It’s a simple step that can make a big difference in your long-term health.”

Read the article:
go.unc.edu/family-health-history

11/25/2025

Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are right around the corner! Here are the holiday hours for The UNC Family Medicine Centers at Chapel Hill, Carraway Village, Durham (Mayfair St.), & South Durham (Fayetteville Rd.).

We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

11/24/2025

A recent NC Health News article outlines that for the second year in a row, North Carolina received a D+ grade on the March of Dimes’ annual report card for maternal and infant health. The annual report highlights persistent challenges – preterm births and infant mortality remain high, nearly 1 in 5 mothers receive inadequate prenatal care, and racial disparities persist, with Black infants dying at more than twice the rate of white infants. These issues are especially severe in rural areas, where maternity care deserts and hospital closures have left families with limited access to essential services.

“We need more hospitals to actually open up their maternity units again, because distance to care matters,” said Dana Iglesias, MD, MPH, a family physician and interim medical director of UNC Health Chatham’s Maternity Care Center. “We’re the only high-income country struggling with this, who have moms and babies dying with supposedly all the resources that we have.”

Led by UNC Family Medicine faculty, the UNC Chatham Hospital team is working to close critical gaps in rural maternity care. Since opening in 2020, the Maternity Care Center has delivered more than 850 babies using a family-physician-led model - a vital solution in regions where OB-GYN services are scarce. With 20 counties lacking maternity care, this work is essential to improving outcomes for mothers and babies across North Carolina.

While statewide progress is slow, recent policy changes - such as Medicaid expansion, extended postpartum coverage, and allowing certified nurse midwives to practice without physician supervision after meeting certain criteria offer hope for long-term improvement. But as Dr. Iglesias and other health leaders emphasize, real change requires investment, collaboration, and innovative models like those at UNC Chatham Hospital.

Learn more about the challenges and solutions shaping maternal and infant health in North Carolina: go.unc.edu/nc-marchofdimes

11/20/2025

Today (November 20) is the Great American Smokeout!

From the UNC To***co Treatment Program:
Quitting or cutting down on smoking is challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of people across the country today and take the first step toward a healthier future!

What happens when you quit smoking:

- 8 hours after quitting: Carbon monoxide levels in your blood return to normal.
- 24 hours after quitting: Your risk of heart attack begins to drop.
2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Lung function improves by up to 30%.
- 1 month after quitting: You’ll save about $240 (if you smoked a pack a day in North Carolina).
- 1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.

Commit to a healthier (& wealthier!) future for yourself and your loved ones.

You set the goals and timeline - the UNC To***co Treatment Program provides expert coaching, behavior-change counseling, and medication recommendations to help you succeed.
📞 Contact us: 984-974-4976
📧 Email: ttp@med.unc.edu
👉 Tips for quitting now, from TTP's Susan Trout: https://healthtalk.unchealthcare.org/9-strategies-for-quitting-smoking/

11/11/2025

Amir Barzin, DO, MS, Associate Professor in the UNC Department of Family Medicine and Chief Operating Officer of UNC Health Physicians, was recently featured in a UNC Media Hub article exploring physician burnout and the emotional toll of medical care.

In the article, Dr. Barzin shares how his daily morning runs help him manage the pressures of working in health care. His reflections underscore the growing awareness among medical professionals of the mental and emotional strain that comes with caring for patients during their most vulnerable moments.

Barzin is a graduate of the UNC Family Medicine Residency Program, where he served as Chief Resident. He has held multiple leadership roles within the department, including Medical Director of the Family Medicine Center at Chapel Hill and Director of the Family Medicine Inpatient Service Line. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led UNC’s Respiratory Diagnostic Center and co-developed the Carolina Together Testing Program, which enabled the safe return of students and faculty to campus. Appointed Chief Operating Officer of UNC Health Physicians in April 2025, Dr. Barzin now oversees strategic operations, physician recruitment, virtual care programs, and patient experience initiatives across the system.

The article was also picked up by The Charlotte Post.

Read the full article on Media Hub: go.unc.edu/Barzin-Burnout

11/05/2025

Evan Ashkin, MD, founder of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition (NC FIT) Program, was recently interviewed by WFAE, Charlotte's NPR affiliate, for its feature Light Rail Stabbing and Iryna’s Law Exposes Cracks in North Carolina’s Mental Health System. The segment examines systemic failures that contributed to the tragic killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail and the passage of Iryna’s Law.

Ashkin and host Nick de la Canal explore systemic failures that leave vulnerable individuals without adequate care. Dr. Ashkin highlighted how prisons and jails have become the state’s largest providers of inpatient psychiatric care - a role they were never designed to fill - and stressed the need for proactive solutions.

“We need to invest in things like ACT teams - assertive community treatment teams,” Ashkin said. “They might have a social worker, a peer to do outreach, a psychiatrist who actually meets people in the community where they’re at, because oftentimes these folks are not going to come to the appointment.”

Ashkin highlighted his work with forensic ACT teams, which provide intensive support for individuals post-release with serious mental illness, and hopes for additional funding to expand these programs. These efforts align with NC FIT’s mission to bridge gaps in care for formerly incarcerated individuals and reduce recidivism through comprehensive health and social support.

“The law misses the mark,” Ashkin said. “Funding these programs and building relationships that keep people engaged in treatment could prevent tragedies like this.”

Read the article and listen to the interview: go.unc.edu/Ashkin-IrynasLaw

10/30/2025

Crister Brady, MD, MPH, recently served as the keynote speaker at the annual donor appreciation event hosted by Doctors Without Walls - Santa Barbara Street Medicine (DWW). The gathering, held at Direct Relief headquarters (a longtime partner supporting DWW’s outreach efforts), celebrated two decades of providing healthcare to individuals experiencing homelessness.

Dr. Brady’s connection to DWW runs deep: he was the organization’s first student coordinator in 2010, helping shape its early efforts to deliver care directly to people on the streets. Now a practicing physician in our department, he reflected on the enduring values of DWW - unconditional care, student mentorship, and collaborative patient-centered approaches.

His keynote emphasized the importance of community-based care and the power of meeting patients where they are. Brady spoke to an interprofessional audience of healthcare professionals, volunteers, and donors, highlighting the need for sustained support and innovative approaches to care for vulnerable populations.

Brady currently sees patients at the UNC Family Medicine Center at Carraway Village in Chapel Hill and serves as the Regional Director of the UNC Rural Primary Care Fellowship Program. His career has been shaped by a commitment to rural health, community engagement, and collaborative care models. Prior to joining UNC, he worked at Piedmont Health Services and completed training at UCSF, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley, focusing on health equity and partnerships with communities experiencing homelessness.

The event also spotlighted DWW’s Enhanced Case Management program, which has helped clients secure and maintain housing through intensive support. The organization, however, currently faces funding challenges that threaten its future services. Brady’s keynote underscored the urgency of advocacy and policy change to sustain street medicine efforts.

Read more in the Santa Barbara Independent:
go.unc.edu/Brady-DWW

10/27/2025

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the UNC Family Medicine Centers at Chapel Hill, Carraway Village, Durham, and South Durham have been showing their support by wearing pink on Fridays throughout the month.

Did you know that one in eight women (and people assigned female at birth) will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime? According to the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), women aged 40 to 74 who are at average risk for breast cancer should get a mammogram every two years. This updated recommendation reflects growing evidence of rising breast cancer rates among women in their 40s. For those with questions or concerns, especially individuals under 40 or with higher risk factors, it’s important to talk with your primary care provider about the best screening plan for you.

UNC Family Medicine

12/23/2025

12/16/2025

12/11/2025

12/08/2025

12/04/2025

11/25/2025

11/24/2025

11/20/2025

11/11/2025

11/05/2025

10/30/2025

10/27/2025

Address

Opening Hours

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Monday	7am - 7pm
Tuesday	7am - 7pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 7pm
Thursday	7am - 7pm
Friday	7am - 7pm
Saturday	8am - 12pm