Each year, Alumni Affairs solicits nominations for our Distinguished Alumni Awards Program and our Medical Alumni Council. We are pleased to have the opportunity to honor outstanding alumni each year and hope you will consider submitting a nomination for either opportunity by February 11, 2026.

Distinguished Medical Alumni Awards Program

We invite nominations in three different award categories: Distinguished Alumni Award, Early Career Achievement, and Distinguished Faculty Award. Information on the award categories and criteria can be found on our website.

Nominating a deserving individual is easy! Complete this form and provide a statement of nomination outlining 3-5 accomplishments that make the individual deserving of the award.

Medical Alumni Council

We also invite nominations for our Medical Alumni Council, a group of enthusiastic and loyal School of Medicine alumni who advise the Alumni Affairs team and the School of Medicine and help broaden our reach among the alumni base. Medical Alumni Council members serve on one committee and are asked to attend twice-annual meetings in the Chapel Hill area. More information about the Medical Alumni Council can be found on our website.

Alumni can be nominated by filling out this form and telling us a bit about why they are deserving. Self-nominations are also welcome.

We hope you will consider nominating deserving individuals! If you have any questions or need additional information about the nomination process, please contact Alumni Affairs at medalum@med.unc.edu or 919-962-8891.

Leon C. Adelman, MD ‘08
President
Medical Alumni Council

Katrina H. Avery, MD ‘91
Chair, Nominating and Awards Committee
Medical Alumni Council

Kierra Peak’s introduction to UNC-Chapel Hill was attending Project Uplift as a rising high school senior.

“I think I want to go here,” she thought after her first time on campus.

A year later, she made Carolina home and enjoyed her undergraduate experience, majoring in anthropology. After receiving a master’s degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University, Peak returned to Chapel Hill to pursue a doctorate in occupational science at the UNC School of Medicine.

The native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, will become a double Tar Heel when she receives her doctoral degree this month.

The root of occupational science, Peak ’14, ’25 (PhD) said, is “caring about how people can engage in their lives to the fullest.” As a doctoral student, she continued to explore that mission through her research, teaching and service.

One of The Graduate School’s Royster Fellows, she completed a dissertation on how youth activism shapes the identities of young people and impacts their well-being, sometimes negatively. Peak sought to answer the question “How can we better serve students who are doing this work?”

Learn more about Kierra’s story.

David L. Kelly Jr. was one class shy of earning a Carolina undergraduate degree in spring 1955. He hoped to attend medical school. UNC’s School of Medicine was admitting qualified students through an accelerated program, so he applied.

He was accepted and became an accomplished neurosurgeon.

Now 90, Kelly ’59 (MD) sometimes wondered about finishing his bachelor’s degree. “I was the only person in my medical school class who didn’t have the degree. Quite frankly, I wanted to be an alumnus of the University of North Carolina,” he said. He was even willing to attend class on campus.

Chancellor Lee H. Roberts heard about Kelly’s long-held wish and asked Lauren DiGrazia, associate provost and University registrar, to look into fulfilling that wish. Her staff determined Kelly’s academic record matched 1955 requirements for a Bachelor of Science in chemistry.

His wish has been granted.

On Dec. 14, Kelly will put on a Carolina Blue cap and gown, then join younger graduates at Winter Commencement. His diploma will read “Class of 1955.”

Read more about Dr. Kelly’s story.