Patrena Benton
Director

Patrena Benton is currently serving as the Executive Director. In this role, she provides leadership on strategic planning, policy development, fundraising, financial management, administrative and programmatic planning. She is currently serving as principal investigator on a research study to determine whether student participation and performance in a summer academic and enrichment program is predictive of application and performance in health/graduate programs as well as professional outcomes.

Prior to assuming her current role, she served as NC-HCAP’s Associate Director for Development, Evaluation, and New Initiatives and the Chief Operating Officer. She worked in collaboration with constituents to develop a series of program components to facilitate a sustainable educational training model for student exposure and enrichment in the health care professions.

Ms. Benton began a career at NC-HCAP in 1996 when she served as the Recruiter/ Assistant Communications Specialist and later became the first NC-HCAP/NC AHEC Liaison/Recruiter in 1999. She has held an Adjunct-Faculty appointment with Durham Technical Community College. She is often called upon as a motivational speaker as well as to present on health careers and minority presence in the health professions.

Ms. Benton received her B.A. in Communications Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University where she earned an M. S. in Adult Education and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies.

Paula Borden
Associate Director/College Outreach Coordinator

Paula joined the NC-HCAP team in February of 2007. As the College Outreach Coordinator, she is responsible for planning, developing and implementing all college outreach initiatives. She recruits undergraduate students to participate in NC-HCAP programs and activities, with particular emphasis on the Science Enrichment Preparation (SEP) Program, and also serves as the advisor for the NC-HCAP Ambassadors.

Prior to assuming her current role, Paula was employed with the Morehead-Cain Foundation, an undergraduate scholarship program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as an AmeriCorp *VISTA Volunteer for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Paula received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications studies from Wingate University and earned a Master of Arts degree in counselor education from North Carolina Central University. She is a member of the American Counseling Association, North Carolina Career Counseling Association and the North Carolina Counseling Association.

Vacant
Financial Manager

Jasmine Hardy
Executive Assistant/Project Coordinator

Jasmine Hardy is currently the executive assistant and project coordinator. As such, she provides administrative support for the organization as well as assists with programmatic planning for pre-college and college initiatives. She is also responsible for data collection, management and evaluation of NC-HCAP programmatic components. She received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007.

Renee Harris
Communication Manager

A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Renee Harris received her Bachelor of Arts in English from North Carolina State University in 1988. After a year of post-baccalaureate work at NC State, Renee joined the March of Dimes as a Community Director. Two years later, she joined the marketing department of Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and in 1995, she began a retail business in Sanford. Renee joined the North Carolina Health Careers Access Program in September of 2000, where she is responsible for the marketing of NC-HCAP and its programs and activities both on the UNC campus and around the state.

Koyah Rivera
Pre-College Coordinator/NC-AHEC Liaison

As the pre-college coordinator/AHEC liaison, Koyah is responsible for planning, developing and implementing all pre-college outreach initiatives and providing consultative support to the nine Area Health Education Centers across North Carolina.

Before joining NC-HCAP, Koyah was employed as a college admissions counselor at Shaw University in Raleigh. She has served as a Language Arts teacher for Wake County Public Schools and TV news producer/writer at two NBC TV stations. She is also the founder/executive director/TV host of Beyond Gifted, Inc., a non-profit organization which produces the "Beyond Gifted" television program to assist K-12 students in developing post-secondary plans to reach school and life success. She received dual B.A. degrees in communications and English from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.