Glen Webster Archives
Jennifer Cranford
Director, Office of Student Affairs Brody School of Medicine
MAEd, Adult Education (Certificate in Student Affairs in Higher Education), 2023
BS, Hospitality Management (minor Business Admin), 2018
Jennifer currently serves as Director at the Brody School of Medicine in the Office of Student Affairs. While working full-time, being a wife and mother, and attending school online, Jennifer was able to maintain a 4.0 GPA, citing BSOM students as her inspiration to continue her education. Prior to joining the Brody Family, Jennifer worked for ECU Transit as an undergraduate student, working as both a student bus operator and a student transit supervisor for 3 years. After graduating from ECU, Jennifer worked for the City of Greenville as a Transit Supervisor, serving in the Public Works Department with the Greenville Area Transit System. Jennifer started her career in OSA as the Program Coordinator in the office before being promoted to Director in March 2022. She has a passion for fostering a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment where all students can achieve their academic and personal goals. Her commitment to the Office of Student Affairs and the mission of the Brody School of Medicine is palpable in all aspects of her work. Jennifer has a devotion to lifelong learning and hopes to continue furthering her education as well as make a positive impact at the Brody School of Medicine.
Outside of work and the classroom, Jennifer enjoys reading, cooking, traveling, and spending time with her family. A former intern at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL in 2016, Jennifer and her husband try to sneak down to Orlando once or twice a year to visit Mickey Mouse and his pals with their 3-year-old daughter, Charlotte!
Macon Carroll
PhD student, Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Pharmacology and Toxicology
BS, Clinical Laboratory Science
Macon Carroll is a current first year PhD student at Brody in the Biomedical Sciences Department with a concentration in Pharmacology and Toxicology. She graduated from East Carolina University’s College of Allied Health Sciences in May of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Science.
In her time in undergrad at East Carolina, Macon completed clinical rotations at ECU Health in the lab departments of Chemistry, Microbiology, Hematology, and Immunohematology and Transfusion Services, as well as being trained in Phlebotomy.
With passions for both natural and social science, she found herself drawn to the Pharmacology and Toxicology program, due to the direct impact toxicological findings have on government policies and vice versa. Macon is now nearing the end of her first official year and is currently rotating with Dr. DeWitt, whose laboratory focuses on the investigation of PFAS and forever chemicals. She is also nearing the end of her four years as an EC Scholar, through the ECU Honors College.
When not in class or lab, Macon enjoys spending time with friends, reading, and knitting or crocheting (or really any kind of DIY craft project).
Ryan Dickerson
M2, Brody School of Medicine
BS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2021
Biology with a minor in Chemistry
Ryan Dickerson is a M2 Brody Scholar in the 2025 class at BSOM. Ryan has worked hard to elevate his peers through the creation of supplemental educational resources in the form of practice questions, recorded lectures, and mock practical exams. As a scholar in the Medical Education and Teaching Distinction Track, Ryan has recently founded a student-led organization called Student Collaborative Resources for Understanding and Brody Success (SCRUBS), in the hopes of building on the collaborative community of medical education to assist future cohorts in their journey through the didactic years.
As an M1 student, Ryan became a Peer Assisted Learning Session (PALS) facilitator for the Gross Anatomy course and now serves as a tutor for both Gross Anatomy and Medical Neuroscience for current M1 students. He had the opportunity to develop his teaching style while operating as a TA for the DPT and CRNA Gross Anatomy summer course in addition to working with the Brody Rise program to deliver interactive instruction to high school students interested in the medical field this past summer. Ryan is also an active member of the Health Science Leadership Council, Surgical Interest Group, and serves in a leadership role for the Emergency Medicine Interest Group.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys hiking, athletics, board games, and axe throwing.
Manthi Dissanayake
M2, Brody School of Medicine
BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2019
Global Studies- Global Health Concentration
Minor in Neuroscience
Manthi Dissanayake is an M2 student at the BSOM. She is a strong advocate for mentorship, guiding underrepresented undergraduate pre-med students on their journey to medical school as a Brody Ambassador. Manthi is also passionate about combating food insecurity in her community—a cause she has been active in since high school.As an NC Albert Schweitzer Fellow, Manthi developed and implemented a nutrition and cooking class series at the Pitt County Council on Aging; the classes address food insecurity amongst the older adult population in eastern NC by teaching participants how to cook nutritious, low-cost recipes and providing them with bags of food weekly.
Manthi is the co-founder of the “Food Is Medicine” club at BSOM and is working with her fellowship partner to increase nutrition education and service opportunities for Brody students.
In addition, Manthi is a champion for women’s health and advocates for the improvement of current practices through clinical research. Manthi started her role as an NTV FPMRS Research Intern at NYU Langone Health this summer and continues her work under the mentorship of Dr. Benjamin Brucker and Dr. Shavy Nagpal. She has collaborated on projects ranging from investigating non-hormonal solutions for treating GSM symptoms to leading the creation of a UTI management study. She also serves as Brody’s Obstetrics & Gynecology Interest Group President.
In her spare time, Manthi enjoys exploring the outdoors, testing new recipes, reading, singing, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Cody Hatchett
PhD Candidate, Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
BS, General Biology
MS, Biomedical Science
Cody graduated in Fall 2018 from ECU with a Bachelor of Science in General Biology. He then joined the Schwalbe lab for his Master of Science in Biomedical Science from the Brody School of Medicine where he focused on N-glycosylation and neuronal function and graduated in Summer 2021.
He then began working towards a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology under Dr. Ruth Schwalbe in Fall 2021. He currently works towards developing a N-glycosylation mutant zebrafish line to study the effects of N-glycosylation processing on neuron development. This research will help to advance the understanding of how changes in neuronal protein N-glycosylation leads to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
When not doing research Cody enjoys spending time with his cat Red as well as playing golf and being outdoors.
Jenna Garris
Executive Director, REACH Initiative
Distinction Track and Teachers of Quality Academy Program Administrator
BS, School Health Education, 2008
MA, Health Education, 2012
Graduate Certificate in Education for Health Care Professions, 2018
Jenna Garris joined the Brody School of Medicine in the Office of Medical Education in 2015. She was hired to manage and direct the daily operations of the Redesigning Education to Accelerate Change in Healthcare (REACH) initiative, which was funded by the American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Education grant program. In addition to REACH, Jenna administers the four medical student Distinction Track programs and serves as the administrative director for the Teachers of Quality Academy (TQA). She also serves as the planning director for the annual Medical Education and Quality Improvement Symposia. Jenna was recently accepted to participate in the American Medical Association’s Health Systems Science Scholars faculty development program that will begin in December 2022.
Jenna enjoys spending time with her family and attending her 7-year-old and 18-year-old’s sporting events. She loves to cook, garden, and read in her spare time.
Mohammed Dorgham
PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
Mohammed Dorgham is a PhD Candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Dr. Kyle Mansfield’s Lab. The Mansfield Lab focuses on Post Transcriptional Regulation and more specifically the modification known as M6A (N⁶-Methyladenosine).
Mohammed’s research concentrate on M6A’s role in the progression of Breast Cancer via the protein Methyltransferase 3 (METTL3). He has determined that depending on the stage of the Breast cancer, removing METTL3 and therefore removing M6A can have very different effects on the phenotype of the cancer.
The Mansfield Lab was awarded a grant from the American Cancer Society for his project. He hopes to alleviate the controversy in the field in regard to M6A being shown to both suppress and promote different cancers.
When Mohammed is not in the lab, he volunteers with local youth groups at the Mosque in Greenville, North Carolina. He also is a tutor in Chemistry and Biochemistry both locally and nationally that includes in person as well as remote tutoring. He has been tutoring for several years and has a passion for teaching especially students that are underprivileged and disadvantaged.In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, his family, and his friends. He likes to travel, play/watch sports as well as go camping. He has visited over 15 different countries and 25 different states and hopes to visit even more in the future.
Leigh Patterson, MD
Department Chair of Emergency Medicine
Associate Professor
MAEd, ECU
Dr. Leigh Patterson joined faculty at Brody School of Medicine in 2005 and has worked in various roles, including the Emergency Medicine Director. In the course of this role, she decided to get her MAEd in Adult Education at East Carolina University. Dr. Patterson has mentored and encouraged others to get their degree in MAEd because she feels it has been very beneficial in both her personal and professional life. She continues to use what she has learned when getting this degree; for instance, she used her knowledge when it came to renovating the Radiology course. In her current role as Department Chair of Emergency Medicine, this degree has also helped Dr. Patterson reimagine faculty evaluation for the Emergency Department.
Dr. Patterson enjoys being a mom and doing activities with her 9 year-old daughter. She loves to knit and is currently working on knitting hats. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, biking, and recruiting faculty.
Jonathon P. Sweetin
BFA – Art Education
MS in Ed. – Instructional Technology
Jon Sweetin is the Curriculum Administration Manager and project lead of the Elentra application implementation here at BSOM. Prior to joining the Office of Medical Education, Jon worked for the North Carolina Community College System Office where he managed the state-wide learning objects repository application for 7 years. He worked as the Director of Distance Education at Pitt Community College before moving to the NCCC System Office for 5 years. He began his career working as an instructional technologist in the Business Solutions Division of the American Red Cross’s headquarters in Washington DC. In 2001, while working at the Red Cross, he was enlisted as a first responder to the events of 9-11 in NYC. Jon was a Division I student athlete and accomplished artist in his years at Southern Illinois University. Jon and his wife Ann Marie live in Winterville, NC with their two boys Jackson, and Wilson.
Karen Litwa, PhD
Karen Litwa, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
B.S., Grove City College
Ph.D., Emory University
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Dr. Karen Litwa, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, is the first BSOM faculty member to receive the CAREER award that exceeded $1 million total. The CAREER award is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious and competitive award for junior, pre-tenure, faculty, supporting excellence in research and teaching. This 5-year award will support cutting-edge research on how synapses form in the developing brain, as well as scientific outreach and educational activities, including the development of an undergraduate microscopy course.