In UNC Health Care's new video series, Medicine’s Mentors, professionals and medical students share stories of those who helped shape them and discuss what makes mentorship at UNC Health Care unique. Here, Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD, opens up about her experiences from Mississippi to Spelman College to Wayne State University to UNC.

The first feature is Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice, associate professor of pediatrics at UNC and director of the Pediatrics Residency Program. Dr. McNeal-Trice received a BS in Biology from Spelman College before entering medical school at Wayne State University. She completed pediatric residency training at UNC and then was Pediatric Chief Resident at WakeMed. In 2007, Dr. McNeal-Trice returned to Chapel Hill to take on a leadership role in medical student education as a member of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. In 2010, she assumed the role of Director of Medical Student Education in Pediatrics.

As a student educator, Dr. McNeal-Trice is an innovator, creating the nationally recognized and award-winning Transition to Pediatrics Internship course; an outstanding teacher, receiving the The Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Excellence in Teaching Award in the Clinical Sciences from the UNC SOM Class of 2013; and a tremendous student advocate, serving in the Larry Keith Advisory College. Her clinical work has focused on inpatient pediatrics and child maltreatment.