Carolina Hepatitis Academic Mentorship Program (CHAMP)
CHAMP trains prescribing providers across North Carolina in hepatitis B and C evaluation and management and optimizes access to care throughout the state.
Who are we?
CHAMP is a collaborative network of clinical specialists and public health professionals working in partnership with the NCDHHS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke Health.
CHAMP Mission
Improve the health of rural and underserved communities in North Carolina by building a treatment workforce with the expertise to manage hepatitis B and C.
CHAMP Goals
- Establish a North Carolina workforce trained to diagnose, care for and treat people infected with hepatitis B, and provide curative therapy for those infected with hepatitis C.
- Expand access to providers with specialty training in hepatitis B and C care in rural and low-resource settings.
- Recruit health care providers practicing in local health departments (LHDs), Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), hospitals and community clinics.
- Remove barriers to care for people diagnosed with hepatitis B and C.
CHAMP Snapshot
- Telemedicine training program for prescribing providers
- Ongoing mentorship through tele-conferencing
- Access to special topic presentations and resources
- Earn Continuing Medical Education (CME)
Virtual option: Key to Wellness, Jennifer Key Foreman, AGNP-C, WHNP-BC, 910-420-0248
Current CHAMP Providers: Email us to update your information
CHAMP History
With the goal of developing a peer training program for providers to manage viral hepatitis, CHAMP was launched in 2016 as a dynamic telemedicine training platform designed to be delivered by providers. Cultivated by clinical specialists and public health professionals, CHAMP is sustained by the collaborative efforts of NCDHHS, UNC and Duke Health.
The initial ‘boot camp’ was developed specifically for providers who want to participate in CHAMP in North Carolina. It gives providers the opportunity to meet with academic mentors and peers, learn best practices, assess liver fibrosis, prescribe direct-acting antiviral treatments and share useful resources.
CHAMP builds upon a successful mentorship initiative begun by Drs. Michael Fried, Rick Moore and Alison Bartel. Their remote training began with twice-monthly teleconferencing consultations about hepatitis C care in 2015. In its first 18 months, that collaboration produced encouraging results in the treatment and care of patients with hepatitis C and was then expanded into the broader training program that exists today. The program expanded to include training for hepatitis B management in 2024.
Other important contributors to the successful design and implementation of CHAMP are Jama Darling, M.D., Jane Giang, PharmD (UNC), Anthony Hannah, MSW (NCDHHS), Rick Moore (MD, UNC/NC DHHS), and Andrew Muir, MD (Duke).