Hannah Rayala, a 2025 Pisacano Scholar, is a fourth-year medical student at East Carolina University (ECU) Brody School of Medicine. Her commitment to family medicine is deeply personal, rooted in her upbringing as the daughter of two dedicated family physicians. Born in the Philippines, where her parents completed medical school, she spent part of her early childhood in Michigan before her family eventually settled in North Carolina. Throughout these moves, she witnessed firsthand the relationships her parents built with their patients and the profound impact of primary care in shaping healthier communities. These early experiences instilled in her a deep respect for the specialty and a desire to follow in her parents’ footsteps.

Hannah’s path toward family medicine has been guided by a belief that primary care is the foundation of a sustainable, patient-centered healthcare system. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she studied Nutrition and Public Health to better understand the complex interplay of social, economic, and structural factors that influence health. She further explored the health of entire communities through research on cardiovascular disease trends and barriers to care in eastern North Carolina – work that ultimately led her to ECU. There, Hannah has focused on strengthening the primary care workforce, advocating for payment and administrative reforms, and advancing policies that prioritize prevention and continuity of care.

Hannah’s leadership on the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians Workforce Pipeline and Advocacy Committees has allowed her to engage directly with policymakers to reduce administrative burdens and increase incentives for primary care. She helped secure loan repayment funding for medical students entering family medicine and championed reforms to prior authorization policies. As president of the Family Medicine Interest Group and a member of the North Carolina Medical Society Student Council, she elevated student voices in statewide health policy discussions and inspired her peers to pursue careers in primary care.

Hannah’s passion for community extends beyond medicine and into every aspect of her life. She finds deep fulfillment in bringing people together, whether through grassroots advocacy efforts, teaching group fitness classes, or hosting dinner parties for friends and neighbors. Co-founding the Food Recovery Network chapter at ECU was an extension of this commitment – mobilizing students to combat food waste and hunger while fostering collaboration across campus and the community. These experiences have shaped her understanding of the role of a family physician: not only a clinician but a trusted presence in people’s lives, invested in long-term, meaningful relationships.

Looking ahead, Hannah envisions a career that merges clinical work, academic medicine, and health policy. She plans to pursue a preventive medicine fellowship and ultimately dedicate her career to redesigning systems that undervalue primary care through advocating for payment reform and greater investment in prevention. She sees family medicine as more than a specialty – it is a movement toward a more equitable, sustainable, and human-centered healthcare system. Through the Pisacano Leadership Foundation, she is excited to expand her leadership in health policy and work alongside fellow scholars to build a stronger future for family medicine.