Staff

Elizabeth Freeman Lambar, MSW, MPH is currently the director of the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program, within the Office of Rural Health, NC DHHS, where she has worked since 2001. Elizabeth was previously employed working with farmworkers as a health outreach worker in North Carolina, New Jersey and Florida. Prior to working with farmworkers, she worked with Central American refugees in Tucson and with the homeless in Philadelphia and San Antonio. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Development and Social Relations at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and received her MSW and MPH from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Ann Watson, MSW is a Farmworker Health Operations Specialist at NCFHP. Ann provides technical assistance to farmworker health outreach programs across the state. She also coordinates outreach trainings and assists in the development and implementation of special initiatives. Prior to her current position at NCFHP, Ann directed an HIV health initiative at a national farmworker advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Ann began her career in social work and public health as a perinatal home visitor at a community health center. She worked in education for several years in rural Costa Rica before returning to her home state for graduate school. Ann is a graduate of Guilford College and received her MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Gayle B Thomas, MD was trained in Family Medicine at UCLA Medical School and Santa Monica Hospital in California. She served as a chief resident at UNC Dept. of Family Medicine prior to becoming a staff physician at Carrboro Community Health Center in North Carolina. During her 22 years at the Community Health Center, she served many Latino patients. To better serve these patients, she became fluent in medical Spanish and studied Latino health care beliefs. She continued her relationship during these years with UNC Family Medicine by serving as a preceptor for medical students in the clinic and for residents in the hospital. In 2013, she left the Community Health Center and joined the UNC Family Medicine Faculty. She currently serves as both an inpatient and outpatient preceptor and as the medical director of the NC Farmworker Health Program, continuing her interests in care for the underserved and the Latino culture.

Kate Furgurson manages NCFHP’s data, compiles reports, coordinates the continuous quality improvement process, and supports the team in technical assistance and other projects. Kate has worked with farmworkers in Georgia and North Carolina in health outreach and public health research settings. She completed a Student Action with Farmworkers fellowship and worked as an outreach coordinator at one of NCFHP’s contract sites. Most recently, Kate worked at the Wake Forest School of Medicine where she contributed to research on farmworker health. She also served on NCFHP’s governing board. She completed her undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary and received her MPH from Emory University.

Sara Gomez, MPH is a Farmworker Health Operations Specialist at NCFHP. She provides technical assistance to farmworker health service delivery sites across the state, as well as coordinating and facilitating trainings for outreach staff, managing health education materials and carrying out communications activities. Sara is a documentary photographer, bilingual in Spanish and English and has an MPH from UNC in Maternal and Child Health. Prior to working with farmworkers she focused on global health, specifically sexual and reproductive health, and community engagement. She has worked in the US, Mexico, Nicaragua and India.

Zoë L. Cummings, MSW, MPH is a Farmworker Health Operations Specialist at NCFHP where she has worked since 2011. Currently, Zoë provides monitoring and technical assistance for grantees that participate in the 340B program and as well as farmworker health program grantees. She also assists with outreach training and with a variety of special initiatives. Prior to working with farmworkers, she worked with inpatient residents at a treatment facility in South Carolina, people with developmental disabilities in Iowa, and adult students in Belize, Central America. After serving two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize, she earned her graduate degrees in Public Health and Social Work at the University of South Carolina.