Class of 2018: When Students Struggled, They Turned to Carter for Support

As an aspiring doctor, Duke graduating senior Isaiah Carter already has the skills needed for a career in health care.

Carter empathetically listens to others, then offers advice and affirmation. He looks out for colleagues or strangers who are struggling or do not have the same access to opportunities, and provides much-needed help.

For his efforts, Carter received this year’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.

The annual award is presented to one graduating Duke senior and one member of the faculty, staff or graduate student body of Duke University or Duke University Health System. Award recipients must embody the qualities of Algernon Sydney Sullivan, a prominent lawyer, businessman and philanthropist from the South who lived in New York in the late nineteenth century. He exhibited qualities of selflessness, generosity of service, nobility of character, integrity, and depth of spirituality.

Carter has connected with other Duke students, listening to their struggles and fueling their ambitions, during his four years of actively participating in campus activities such as tutoring students in chemistry and serving on the Duke President’s Council on Black Affairs. Another aspect of Carter’s passion for helping others is serving as a repeat community volunteer with the Durham Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.

Carter is also a member of Every Nation Campus, a Duke student group and campus ministry committed to serving the community.

“If you interact with Isaiah for a long enough time, you will feel strengthened, called to a higher level of personal character and integrity, inspired to pursue the dreams that you thought were too big for you (Isaiah is a dreamer), encouraged by Isaiah’s personal story and life, and willing to emulate his lifestyle,” wrote Reuben Moses, a Duke graduating senior and member of Every Nation Campus, in a nomination letter.

Carter, who has academically pursued medicine and research, has studied the neurological science, physiology and spiritual components of health. He has worked in a Duke lab that studies how paralyzed people are rehabilitated, and in his Duke community research class, Carter has developed a grant to help reduce childhood obesity in low-income populations.

“Isaiah’s interest in medicine and health disparities extends beyond the classroom and is integrated across various activities that he has been involved in during his time at Duke,” wrote Kathleen Sikkema, Duke’s Gosnell Family Professor of Global Health, in a nomination letter. “His lengthy list of community, volunteer and pre-medical program experiences provide further support to his character and commitment to health and medicine.”

Carter has also served as a role model within the Duke Cardea Fellows Program, a four-year learning community for Duke pre-health undergraduates.

“During exit interviews with all senior Cardea Fellows, many peers remarked on (Carter’s) optimism and influence to keep them going when they were feeling challenged or discouraged,” wrote Alyssa Perz, director of the Duke Cardea Fellows Program. “I have never had so many students single out one peer as an exceptional role model, guide and inspiration.”