Our STORY
Global Health Collaboration was founded in 2017 by Meggin Tallman, a nurse with a passion for reaching the world’s most underserved communities. What began as a global mission became something deeply personal - and ultimately deeply local.
In our early years, GHC operated a scholarship program that sent skilled professionals to areas of critical need around the world. We funded a nurse to serve in Togo, an electrician to bring power to a school in the Dominican Republic, and another nurse to provide care in Sierra Leone. That work changed lives- including our own.
After our final scholarship recipient found herself stranded in West Africa during a global pandemic our efforts focused on getting her home safe and then pausing. Meggin worked on a covid unit locally and all GHC programming went on hold.
Because the need never stopped, Meggin went back to school and earned her Master’s degree during this time and began practicing as a Family Nurse Practitioner in Tuscumbia, Alabama. What she found there looked familiar…the same critical gaps in healthcare access, the same food and housing insecurity, the same communities being left behind by the systems that were supposed to serve them.
The mission didn’t change. The geography did.
In 2026, GHC was revitalized with renewed focus: serving the uninsured, underinsured, and underserved right here in rural Alabama - with the same global perspective that started it all.
Meet Our Founder
Meggin Tallman MSN, FNP-C
Meggin is a Family Nurse Practitioner practicing in Tuscumbia, Alabama with a background in international medical mission work spanning the continent of Africa. She founded Global Health Collaboration in 2017 out of a conviction that skilled professionals, when empowered strategically, could change lives anywhere in the world - including in their own communities. She is currently leading GHC’s revitalization and spearheading the organization’s mobile health clinic initiative.
Meet Our Board
April Lawson MS, ALC, NCC
Under the supervision of David McCullough, LPC-S
Board Chair
April is a mental health counselor in North Alabama where she primarily works with children and adolescents in a traditional clinical setting. Grounded in the belief that people are always doing their best with what they have, she brings a person-centered approach to GHC's mission — one rooted in compassion, empathy, and a genuine commitment to showing up for others. As Board Chair, April is dedicated to bringing care and education to the communities that need it most.
Brandon Brown
Treasurer
Certified Financial Planner and Resident Manager at Morgan Stanley in downtown Florence where he has the opportunity to work with families and businesses towards their financial goals. He graduated from the University of North Alabama with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, and an MBA in Finance. He also had the opportunity to meet his wife Kate at UNA and now they are honored to serve on several local advisory boards together. They have a young daughter Isabelle and enjoy being a part of their church, recreational groups, and community in The Shoals.
Lezlie Melton BSN/RN
Community Engagement Chair
A Florence native, mother of five and graduate of the University of North Alabama; as a registered nurse specializing in maternal-child health, she is passionate about supporting parents and infants in establishing strong family foundations through compassionate, hands-on relationship centered care. Her experience includes pediatric, neonatal, and mother-baby care in the hospital setting as well as maternal-child home health.
In addition to her clinical work, she is committed to connecting with diverse populations, promoting family health and wellness through education, advocacy, and improving access to health care, thus ultimately improving health outcomes throughout North Alabama.
Our Values
Dignity- Every Person deserves care, regardless of income, zip code, or circumstance.
Community- We don’t serve from a distance. We show up where the need is.
Impact- We measure success not by programs launched but by lives changed.
Collaboration- No organization can do this alone. We partner, connect, and build together.