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This year’s Impact Report is a testament to our excellence in research, teaching and practice, as well as our commitment to the state and community that support us. It also focuses on our dedication to fostering better health through a supportive and inclusive environment – both inside and outside the School.

While this report highlights the broad achievements that make us a leader in academics and research, it also features our efforts to strengthen community in public health. We’ve welcomed new leadership, added talented faculty, expanded student wellness services, broadened our curriculum and launched training for more inclusive classroom discussions.

We are especially proud to remain the No. 1 public school of public health in the United States. That honor would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of everyone who cares about public health at Carolina – students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors.

I couldn’t be prouder to call Chapel Hill home and to see the collective impact of our work in this community and beyond.  

Dr. Nancy Messonnier
Dean and Bryson Distinguished Professor in Public Health
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Welcome to our new department chairs!

Coming soon: A new Faculty and Staff Affairs unit

This year, the Gillings School began development of a new Faculty and Staff Affairs (FSA) unit, which will support recruitment, retention and professional development; foster a more inclusive and engaged community; and serve as a connector and support network for faculty and staff.

A team led by Mark Holmes, PhD, professor of health policy and management and Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy, has developed a blueprint for the new unit that aims to achieve the following goals:

• Leverage all available resources: FSA will coordinate and promote opportunities and connect Gillings School people to University and UNC System resources for professional development and support.
• Career advancement: FSA will organize or develop workshops and advising for faculty (appointments, promotions and tenure) and staff (career pathway workshops and advisement).
• Training and development: FSA will organize or develop tailored training programs, best teaching practices and leadership development for faculty and staff.
• Operational excellence: FSA will offer or coordinate programming to enhance team dynamics, supervision and performance management.
• Well-being: FSA will provide or coordinate programs addressing physical, mental, financial, emotional, social and spiritual health.
• Community building: FSA will spearhead recognition and celebration of contributions, engagement opportunities and effective team dynamics.

This new unit exemplifies our commitment to the people at Gillings who help train future leaders in public health, and we are so excited for its launch.

BSPH Program in Community and Global Public Health

The mission of the Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) program in Community and Global Public Health is to prepare students to work in partnership with local and global communities to identify and address health problems to achieve health equity.

The curriculum emphasizes equity-centered and high-impact practices such as team-based learning and experiential education and will offer more specialized training in data-driven community and systems-based public health.

The program is designed to build upon student interest in understanding the systems and behaviors that contribute to public health challenges such as climate change, water crises and the opioid epidemic. To address health behaviors, public health professionals must learn how to engage with communities in both local and global settings to identify public health threats and creative, community-driven solutions.

Students can begin applying this fall for the new BSPH program. The first class of students will start in August 2025.

To address health behaviors, public health professionals must learn how to engage with communities in both local and global settings to identify public health threats and creative, community-driven solutions.

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Healthcare Management Certificate

The Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) will soon offer a new Healthcare Management Certificate, an 11-credit program over 12-15 months that provides core health management competencies for emerging health care leaders. Participants will develop skills in understanding, measuring and leading successful health care units at levels appropriate to their career stage. For those without previous master’s level training, certificates may also meet core requirements for the Residential or Executive Master of Healthcare Administration degrees offered by the HPM department.

Programs to support community wellness, facilitate difficult conversations

In addition to these two new curriculum offerings, the School now offers training and events to facilitate difficult conversations and support wellness among the Gillings community.

Events on campus and in our state, including the recent gun violence on campus and the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, have led us to develop an inward-focused goal of supporting mental health among Gillings faculty, staff and students. The School has hosted several support gatherings that provide space for participants to share experiences and reflect in a respectful, compassionate environment.

As part of a broader conversation on addressing difficult topics, the School now offers several training programs, including the Heels for Healing and Restoration dialogue program, the Crash Communication Course, the Teaching and Learning Community of Care opportunity, and the Teaching in Challenging Times workshops and resources. Each of these unique activities provides faculty and staff with opportunities to focus on intergroup dialogue and difficult conversations, with trainings specifically designed for faculty and staff from the Gillings School.

The UNC Center for Faculty Excellence also offers programming to support faculty development, including asynchronous resources and events for teaching in challenging times and other leadership, teaching and mentoring resources.

by Laura Linnan, ScD (Senior Associate Dean, Academic and Student Affairs)

Based on student feedback, we strengthened the School’s faculty mentoring efforts by recognizing excellent faculty mentors from each department and organizing a comprehensive workshop to showcase best practices on faculty mentoring. These best practices and helpful strategies will be documented in a “Toolkit for Effective Faculty Mentoring,” available in 2025. We also plan to incorporate information from The Graduate School on this topic.

We have hired an experienced instructional faculty member, Yesenia Merino, PhD, MPH, to provide departments with technical assistance and support as they co-create priority plans to strengthen the curriculum around topics related to anti-racism, health equity and inclusive excellence.

We strengthened faculty mentoring, introduced anti-racism curriculum support, and enhanced student well-being through community-building and wellness initiatives.

We support continuous quality improvement efforts for the schoolwide Master of Public Health (MPH) core and concentrations. We are also offering two immersion experiences for MPH@UNC to help online students develop a sense of shared community with our residential faculty, students and staff.

The Student Affairs unit continues to leverage the Student Mental Health and Well-Being Task Force, which provides guidance in structuring the resources and environment at the School to reduce student stress and support mental health and well-being. The task force uses the “Eight Dimensions of Wellness” framework to address all aspects of well-being.

Student Affairs, in partnership with Gillings Instructional and Information Systems and Academic Affairs, also utilizes the Gillings Navigate platform, launched last year, to strengthen the connection between students, academic coordinators and University resources. Students can use Gillings Navigate to connect with their academic coordinator, network with other students who want to form study groups, or learn next steps to set up appointments with career services, mental health counseling and wellness coaching at UNC. We believe students, staff and faculty can all benefit from this technological improvement.

The unit also continues to recruit and engage with prospective students, in particular partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and high schools to educate and motivate toward careers in public health.

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Cáceres was born and raised in Santiago, Chile, and moved to the United States in 2009. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, he has worked with diverse communities and organizations in both countries. He has practiced clinical social work since 2014, including working with the University of North Carolina-Greensboro Counseling and Psychological Services for several years.

In addition to his experience working as a therapist with university students, Cáceres earned his Master of Social Work from the UNC School of Social Work in 2013, which provided him with a firsthand perspective of being a student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

It’s an honor to be a counselor at UNC. I can help out students just like people helped me in the past. Everyone is welcome to come to me — this is ultimately a safe space for all students.

Cáceres is excited for his new position as an embedded counselor because he is highly accessible for Gillings students, both in terms of proximity and availability, and he is able to understand and focus on the specific needs and concerns of Gillings students.

Students can make appointments with Cáceres by reaching out to him via email (caceresa@unc.edu), with the choice of remote or in-person appointments depending on individual preference. He is a generalist counselor, which allows him to work with students on a wide range of issues, and he offers services in both Spanish and English. Furthermore, Cáceres can work with students in an ongoing capacity or can refer students to other therapists, depending on each student’s needs.

“It’s an honor to be a counselor at UNC,” Cáceres says. “I can help out students just like people helped me in the past. Everyone is welcome to come to me — this is ultimately a safe space for all students. I’m eager to get to know people here at Gillings so that we can work together as a team.”

Outside of his work, Cáceres enjoys soccer, outdoor activities, and playing with his kids and pets.

Learn more about the embedded counselor program.

by John Wiesman, DrPH, MPH (Associate Dean for Practice)

Highlights from our work in practice:

• The School has been selected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be the Public Health Emergency and Response coordinating center for Region 4. During the next five years, the team will implement the work plan they created and serve as a resource for training, strategy and technical assistance to public health agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. (Read more on pages 20-21.)
• The Public Health Partnership Hubs have launched in Cumberland, Durham, Halifax and Jackson counties. Through these Hubs, we are working alongside community members to achieve their desired community outcomes by embedding students, faculty and staff. Community Hub Coordinators have been hired to work in each of the counties and serve as a connector between local organizations and the School. We are excited to welcome them to the team!
  • Kelsey White, MA (Durham County Hub Coordinator)
  • Katie Hutchinson (Jackson County Hub Coordinator)
  • Kelby Hicks (Halifax County Hub Coordinator)
  • Nicole Beckwith (Cumberland County Hub Coordinator)
• Four Gillings students have already completed their practica through the Hubs as we continue to build new partnerships and strengthen existing relationships in the counties.
• Leaders and staff from nonprofit research institute RTI International hosted students, faculty and staff from the Gillings School for the annual “PHield Trip” on February 27, 2024. RTI’s University Collaboration Office welcomed 80 students, faculty and staff to share their public health research experiences and some early-career tips.
• Meetings with the Practice Advisory Committee and Practice Coordinating Committee are ongoing and continue to support the vision of elevating practice within the School and creating a stronger public health workforce.
• In the next year, the practice unit has set goals to meet with a newly established funding work group, further integrate students, faculty and staff into the work of the hubs and continue to advocate for academic health departments across North Carolina.

by Kari North, PhD (Associate Dean for Research)

To extend our research impact and reach, we developed an ambitious six-year strategic plan that aims to:

• Strengthen our research infrastructure;
• Better support collaboration and community engagement;
• Create a more inclusive, supportive research environment; and
• Accelerate and communicate our impact with other researchers and academic institutions, prospective students and key constituents, such as practitioners, community members, funders, legislators and policy makers, and the media.

We have embarked on the implementation of this plan through partnerships with members from across the Gillings School community to achieve our goal of improving our direct public health action through our research.

Examples of recently funded projects include:

• Mapping the Causal Genetic-Imaging-Clinical Pathway for Alzheimer’s Disease – PI: Hongtu Zhu, BIOS; funded by the National Institute on Aging, $2,151,878
• Assessment of Ambient Air Pollution Associated with Wood-Pellet Manufacturing – PI: Will Vizuete, ESE; funded by the Environmental Defense Fund, $333,612
• Integrating Molecular Pathology, Radiology and Genetics to Improve Breast Cancer Risk Prediction – PI: Melissa Troester, EPID; funded by the Department of Defense, $3,863,892
• A complex systems approach to understand the impacts of neighborhood development on physical activity in Latine and Black communities – PI: Natalicio Serrano, HB; funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $260,000
• Evaluating a remotely delivered, digital health colorectal cancer screening intervention among racially diverse patients of a community health center – PI: Leah Frerichs, HPM; funded by the National Cancer Institute, $1,228,290
• Enhancing HIV prevention and reducing alcohol use among people receiving STI care in Malawi: An HIV status neutral approach – PI: Angela Parcesepe, MCH; funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, $424,221
• Building a Real-World Evidence Base for Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Older Adults with Diabetes – PI: Anna Kahkoska, NUTR; funded by the National Institue on Aging, $520,988
• Region 4 Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response – PI: John Wiesman, HPM; funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $773,000. (Read article)
• Recognizing & Addressing Maternal Warning Signs for Morbidity & Mortality During Pregnancy & the Postpartum Period – PI: Dorothy Cilenti and Christine Tucker, MCH; funded by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, $5,000,000. (Read article)

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by Suzanne Maman, PhD (Associate Dean for Global Health)

Our faculty and researchers work to address public health issues in diverse settings, applying what they learn in one context to inform solutions in another. Public health and clinical interventions developed by our faculty internationally have been adapted to meet the needs of United States communities and vice versa. We train our students with skills and tools to work in diverse settings, ensuring they can address complex health challenges wherever they arise. Our definition of global health includes addressing the health needs of global populations within the U.S., such as refugees and immigrants. By addressing public health issues both locally and globally, we advance well-being for all.

We train our students with skills and tools to work in diverse settings, ensuring they can address complex health challenges wherever they arise.

Global-Local Impact Spotlight

Michael Kosorok, PhD, W.R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in biostatistics, is leading the newly launched Center for Artificial Intelligence and Public Health (CAIPH). (Read more on pages 18-19.) Kosorok has been working with Jeff Stringer, MD, FACOG, professor at the UNC School of Medicine, on a landmark study that highlights the importance of global public health research on local public health. The study, conducted in North Carolina and Zambia, paves the way for universal obstetric ultrasound. The technology utilized in the study suggests high-quality pregnancy care can be accessible to all women regardless of their location or resources available, locally or globally.

Training Impact Spotlight

Partners Investing in Students

We are proud to celebrate 20 years of partnership with FHI 360 through the FHI 360-UNC Gillings Graduate Research Fellowship. This collaboration has trained 48 Gillings graduate students, preparing them for impactful careers in global public health. FHI 360 has generously contributed over $1.5 million exclusively to Gillings students to invest in their public health education through tuition support, health insurance, student fees and stipends. The yearlong fellowship provides our graduate students with invaluable real-world experience, allowing them to apply classroom knowledge while receiving mentorship from FHI’s esteemed researchers. These mentorship relationships often evolve into lasting professional connections. The benefits to both institutions extend beyond the fellowship, with six former fellows currently employed at FHI 360 and two serving as faculty members at the Gillings School.

Donors Investing in Students

Thanks to generous donor support, we offered three Pre-Dissertation Travel Awards to doctoral students. The awards help Gillings doctoral students travel internationally to do preliminary explorations of potential research materials and sites in preparation for writing a dissertation. This funding is crucial in allowing our doctoral students to travel, make connections and relationship-build with people in-person.

• Ting Chen (MCH) is traveling to Nigeria to conduct preliminary explorations for her dissertation on enhancing health service coverage estimates and program monitoring and evaluation in Nigeria.
• Emilia Goland (MCH) is traveling to Ghana to explore opportunities to conduct research focusing on young people’s use and perceptions of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health.
• Sara Lebu (ESE) traveled to Kenya to pilot research investigating the feasibility of a low-burden assessment approach to understand the impact of flooding on sanitation infrastructure and fecal contamination in the environment in low-resource settings.

Practice Impact Spotlight

The Gillings Humanitarian Health Initiative (HHI), in collaboration with and support of partnering organizations and collaborators, works to address multiple and diverse humanitarian situations. The HHI leadership and student interns have made an impact in several countries and territories, working with organizations and universities this past year in Gaza, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria and the U.S. A few highlights of the projects follow:

• Aparna Kachoria, doctoral student, and Prajwol Nepal, doctoral alumnus, completed an evaluation report with Alight, a global humanitarian response organization in Sudan. Alight was primarily interested in a mixed-methods evaluation to better understand patient and staff perspectives on the services provided and received. However, due to the ongoing conflict, Alight shifted the focus of the work to look at evaluation priorities in the midst of acute conflict. The team worked to ensure the shift still allowed them to answer questions that Alight originally posed. The resulting evaluation report is also helping Alight with goal setting for the immediate future.
• Quintin Van Dyk, MPH, global health alumnus, developed data dashboards for Casa Alitas, a humanitarian aid program committed to assisting asylum-seekers released in Tucson, Arizona. The dashboards show demographic data of asylum seekers arriving at California’s shelters, including what countries they are coming from, what languages they speak, where they are heading in the U.S., how large their families are, gender and age. These dashboards help the state to more easily analyze and view their data when putting together reports for funders and county/state/federal officials.

by Anne Glauber, MPH (Associate Director of Innovation)

Experiential Learning for Student Innovators

• The Gillings Entrepreneurs of Color Mentorship Program provides Gillings students the chance to work with alumni mentors, pairing eight emerging entrepreneurs each year. Through monthly sessions, mentors help students refine their goals and strategies for success. Feedback from mentees showed strong agreement that the program equipped them with the skills and insights needed to implement their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial ambitions.
• In the Map the System Competition, co-sponsored with Innovate Carolina and Oxford University, students tackle complex social and environmental issues through a systems perspective. This year, 45 students (36% from Gillings) across 11 teams participated, with the winning team, Breaking the Silence: Navigating the Untold Story of Women’s Reproductive Health, representing UNC at the global summit in Banff in May 2024.
• The third biannual Gillings School Pitch Competition this fall encourages students to channel their knowledge and innovative spirit into impactful solutions, often marking their first foray into entrepreneurship. Finalists will compete for top prizes: First place ($3,000 + $5,000 in consulting services from BlueDoor Consulting), second place ($1,500), third place ($750) and People’s Choice ($200).

Making an Impact

• CollectiveGood, led by Sean Sylvia, PhD (HPM), has developed a minimum viable product of their platform which harnesses collective clinical intelligence to power medical AI testing and validation. They plan to pursue small business technology transfer (STTR) funding to test the platform with an initial group of clinicians in the United States and Africa.
• Couplet Care Inc., a UNC spin-out, has brought to market their innovative infant bassinet, developed in part by Gillings School faculty Catherine Sullivan, MPH (MCH), and Alison Stuebe, MD, MSc (MCH). The device is now available for sale in the U.S., marking a significant step forward in the team’s mission to improve patient safety, clinical efficiency and health outcomes for mothers and newborns. The Couplet Care team is now focused on meeting demand and is well poised for continued growth. For more information, please explore coupletcare.com.
• LuxBiome, newly formed in May 2024 by Kun Lu, PhD (ESE), focuses on developing a novel microbiome-based solution to protect against arsenic. Lu is moving through next steps, including patent application, customer discovery and funding mechanisms to further validate the technology.
• The Sorbenta team, led by Orlando Coronell, PhD (ESE), and Frank Leibfarth, PhD, were recently awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) STTR Phase I award. They are currently finalizing a licensing agreement from UNC for their patented sorbent material. Once finalized, the budding business will move into Kickstart Venture Services Accelerator lab space and begin work on the newly funded NIH STTR award.
• SNP Therapeutics, Inc., a genomic testing company with a focus on precision nutrition is leveraging their informed AI process to develop algorithms to identify subpopulations with specific genetic signatures that are predisposed to health issues and disease. Founded by Steven Zeisel, MD, PhD (NUTR), the company has launched their first test and nutrition line of products (Genate) in the prenatal health category. They are conducting further research and development on tests and therapeutics for male factor infertility, fatty liver (MASLD) and muscle wasting (sarcopenia).
• Abbey Hatcher, PhD (HB), wrote a United Nations policy brief on innovative technologies and systems-level strategies to reduce partner violence.

Emerging Technologies

• Joe Brown, PhD (ESE), filed a provisional patent for a novel biomarker for gut inflammation, a non-invasive tool to help physicians treat inflammatory bowel disease.
• Rebecca Fry, PhD (ESE), is developing a GIS data-agnostic data visualization tool that integrates multiple complex geospatial datasets in a user-friendly manner. Her team completed the National Science Foundation National I-Corps customer discovery program, focusing on market potential for the tool.
• Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD (NUTR), is developing an AI-powered online supermarket to help consumers make healthier choices more easily, optimize diets for health and disease prevention, and save consumers time and cognitive effort.

Gillings Innovation Labs (GILs)

GILs fund disruptive, innovative solutions to urgent public health problems. In December 2023, the most recent round, Harnessing Generative AI in Public Health, awarded six projects from six Gillings School departments. Along with several campus partners and external collaborators, they are kickstarting solutions to important public health problems: cervical cancer screening in Malawi, decision-making around HIV treatment, modeling for brain-related disorders, behavior change for weight management, poor air quality and standard of primary care in marginalized populations globally.

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by Ethan Chupp, UNC Gillings School Communications Fellow

Beginning in 2023, the Partnership Hubs represent a model for long-term collaborative partnership with local North Carolina communities, which is one of the goals identified in the Gillings School’s strategic plan for practice.

Located in Cumberland, Durham, Halifax and Jackson Counties, the hubs span the state’s diverse geography. Through these hubs, the Gillings School aims to embed students, faculty and staff to work alongside community members to achieve their desired community outcomes. This summer, four Master of Public Health (MPH) students completed their practica through three of the hubs at county public health departments. Their projects are wide-ranging, from tracking opioid overdose reversals to creating data briefs for community health improvement plans.

Nobody operates on their own, because together we’re much more successful in the outcomes that we hope to achieve.

Ryan Bostic worked with the Jackson County Department of Public Health, consolidating Narcan opioid reversal data into an innovative mapping tool that tracks overdoses and successful reversals. The hubs allow students to link their public health interests with professional experience.

“It was my background in statistics and my interest in substance use that brought me to public health,” said Bostic, an MPH student in the Gillings/UNC-Asheville Place-Based Health concentration. “And here, I’m not just an intern; I’m kind of treated as a peer.”

The opioid crisis has strained the resources of rural counties like Jackson. One overdose call may require as many as 10 responders from the police department, fire department and emergency medical services. Bostic is hopeful that this project can show that the availability of Narcan has driven down the number of overdose calls in Jackson County and the number of personnel needed to respond.

“If Narcan is saving the county money, that can help even more people get behind it,” said Bostic.

Albert Chow also worked with the public health department in Jackson County on a communications campaign focused on suicide prevention. Like Bostic, the hub helped him bring his public health interests into practice. The first part of this campaign was a survey of first responders in the county to gauge interest in local suicide prevention training.

“This project came from my experience training as an EMT, seeing how mental health emergencies get treated. Some calls required more debriefing than others and would benefit from a more cohesive, integrated response across the department,” said Chow, an MPH student in the Gillings/UNC-Asheville Place-Based Health concentration.

Chow also developed communication materials for county residents influenced by the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The campaign aims to inform the public about mental health resources available in Jackson County. Chow discussed drawing on the experience of other counties, including neighboring Haywood County. Through the hub, Chow has been impressed with the collaborations central to public health.

“Nobody operates on their own, because together we’re much more successful in the outcomes that we hope to achieve,” said Chow.

The Gillings School is making a five-to-ten-year commitment to each of these hub locations to help them make the sustainable changes they care about. With this ongoing commitment, the School can help communities take something from concept to implementation to evaluation and to improvement with sequential student practicum projects and faculty technical assistance.

“Being the number one public school of public health in a state that ranks 32nd in terms of health makes this initiative particularly important. Gillings School students, faculty and staff can be a helpful resource in our own backyard. Improving community health and giving our students hands-on experience is a win-win, and we hope these experiences will entice our students to work here long-term,” said John Wiesman, DrPH, associate dean for practice at the Gillings School, whose team spearheaded the creation of the Partnership Hubs.

The Partnership Hubs are relatively new. As these partnerships build, more students will explore their interests and test out future careers. The hubs will continue to build long-standing relationships between the Gillings School and health departments statewide, driving positive change in public health practice.