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An associate professor of health behavior and maternal and child health, Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD MHS, ended up in academia after working in finance, teaching algebra, working with a foundation and the private sector, and starting a tutoring business.

Her diverse career path is in part an acknowledgement of her family’s history. Many women in Jennings Mayo-Wilson’s family have been small business owners: her great grandmother had a candy store in the 1930s, her grandmother was a teacher who also ran a rental business and her aunt owned a consignment store. Her parents’ professions influenced her path, as well: her father was a professor in education and her mother, a certified public accountant and tutor.

"In public health schools, we teach and mentor students ... I’m interested in using health behavior interventions to help economically vulnerable communities and families.”

— Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD MHS

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“I come from a family of teachers and knew I’d go into education, but I love numbers and think about the cost behind things. I’ve also always been interested in health and medicine, and all of that comes together through public health,” says Jennings Mayo-Wilson, whose research includes economic factors linked to inequities in sexual and reproductive health, especially among young adults in the United States and Africa. “In public health schools, we teach and mentor students, and as a behavioral scientist primarily working in underserved communities and countries, I’m interested in using health behavior interventions to help economically vulnerable communities and families.”

Her primary research project is working with Baltimore-area youth as director and principal investigator of the EMERGE Project (Engaging MicroenterprisE for Resource Generation and Health Empowerment), a five-year clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). EMERGE is a microenterprise intervention that aims to increase employment and HIV-preventive practices among economically vulnerable young adults who face financial and social barriers in accessing health care. EMERGE provides enrolled youth with micro-grants, small business education, employment opportunities, mentoring, and information on sexual health and HIV.

“Larissa is an amazing colleague,” says Audrey Pettifor, PhD, Gillings professor of epidemiology who first met Jennings Mayo-Wilson through the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) Scholars Program. They now work together as part of the newly funded NIH Adolescent Trials Network (ATN), with the goal of reducing new HIV infections among adolescents in the U.S. and southern Africa. “She is friendly, hardworking, smart, and brings a great mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, and she has expertise in economic-strengthening interventions. Larissa is a star!”

Jennings Mayo-Wilson and her husband, Evan Mayo-Wilson, both joined Gillings in the fall of 2022 after being on the faculty at Indiana University and at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she also earned her master’s and doctoral degrees after graduating from Harvard. Coming to a top-tier research university — plus the rarity of having two faculty positions on the same campus — was a key reason the Mayo-Wilsons and their toddler son, Aiden, made the move from the Midwest to Chapel Hill.

“It is wonderful being in North Carolina and working on research that I care greatly about,” Jennings Mayo-Wilson says, “and we are really lucky to work at such a high-caliber school together.”

Honoring Geni Eng

Geni Eng, DrPH, is a professor emerita of health behavior at the Gillings School whose work has been celebrated for its community-mindedness. Eng has led efforts to address health inequities through her research, which includes the five-year ACCURE (Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity) study.

The Geni Eng Community Equity Award and Lecture Fund seeks to honor Eng by providing one student award and sponsoring an annual community-based lecture.

Edith Parker, DrPH, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa and a former student of Eng’s, said, “This fund reinforces the importance of the community-engaged approach that Geni is so committed to. It recognizes the tremendous role that communities play in students’ education and honors the time-consuming work that students put into community research.”

Remembering John Cassel

After working as a physician in health clinics in Black African communities in South Africa, John Cassel, MD, MPH, served as the first permanent, full-time chair of the Gillings School’s Department of Epidemiology. Cassel fought for more inclusive public health measures that account for social determinants of adverse health and respond to the needs of vulnerable communities.

The John Cassel Scholarship Endowment Fund seeks to honor that legacy by supporting doctoral students in epidemiology with particular attention to enhancing the social, economic and cultural diversity of the Gillings student body. This support will allow them to focus on completing their final year of dissertation research without financial burdens.

“John Cassel was easily 40 years ahead of his time. He was recruiting women into the doctoral program in the 1970s and was researching social injustice and the exposures accounting for multiple health conditions before that was a topic of discussion,” said Michele Forman, PhD, former head of nutrition science at Purdue University, current president of the American College of Epidemiology Foundation and former student of Cassel’s. “My hope is that the students benefiting from this fund will learn more about John Cassel and help carry on his legacy.”

Celebrating the Work of Susan Ennett

Susan Ennett, PhD, recently retired after decades of teaching health behavior. A passionate teacher and mentor, Ennett was committed to building a program that provided students with holistic support along with the necessary career skills and expertise.

The Susan T. Ennett Doctoral Scholarship will support doctoral students in the Department of Health Behavior, with a special emphasis on the first year of a student’s doctoral program.

“Susan Ennett was my faculty advisor and chair of my dissertation committee, so I saw firsthand that she is keenly aware of the burdens and needs of doctoral students,” said Melissa Cox, PhD, assistant professor of health behavior at the Gillings School. “My hope is that this fund will help current and future doctoral students feel more supported and that they will have a greater capacity to complete their studies while maintaining other important facets of their lives.”

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Eng, Cassel and Ennett are giants in their respective fields. With the establishment of these funds, their legacies will live on and inspire a new generation of passionate public health professionals.

“The need for public health to address many of the world’s greatest needs has never been more obvious,” said Debbie Winn, PhD, former acting director of the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute and a former student of Cassel’s. “The new funds will support talented students receiving the best education possible so they can make a major impact in public health.”

• Contribute to the Geni Eng Community Equity Award and Lecture Fund: go.unc.edu/GeniEngEndowment
• Contribute to the John Cassel Scholarship Endowment Fund: go.unc.edu/Cassel
• Contribute to the Susan T. Ennett Doctoral Scholarship: go.unc.edu/SusanEnnett

Students

Eight teams of students and alumni participated in the School’s second Pitch Competition, where they explored creative solutions to pressing public health challenges and presented their ideas to a panel of judges. The HIV/AIDS Network for Disaster Survivors (HANDS), which ensures continuity of care for people with HIV who evacuate during hurricanes, won first place. The team includes Master of Public Health (MPH) students Lauren Fidelak (HB), John Rowell (HB) and Cotie San (EQUITY).

Doctoral candidate in biostatistics Ann Marie Weideman, MS, has received two prestigious scholarships in the field of statistics: the Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship, which is awarded by the American Statistical Association (ASA), and the Ellis R. Ott Scholarship from the Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality.

Rosa Cuppari, MS, a doctoral student in environmental sciences and engineering, has been named a Voices for Sciences Fellow by the American Geophysical Union, an international, nonprofit scientific association that promotes discovery in Earth and space science. A graduate research assistant at the Center on Financial Risks in Environmental Systems, Cuppari designs risk mitigation tools for hydropower producers.

Gillings students are five of the 11 recipients of The Graduate School at UNC-Chapel Hill’s 2023 Impact Awards, recognizing graduate students’ research and their contributions to North Carolina in education and economic, physical, social or cultural well-being:

• Emily Duffy ‘12, (‘14 MS), doctoral candidate in nutrition, for research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic-related increase in the in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) among North Carolina WIC participants.
• Amy Kryston, Master of Public Health graduate student in global health, for her work to address knowledge gaps regarding on-site sanitation, its social determinants and the associated adverse health outcomes in marginalized N.C. communities.
• Haley Plaas, doctoral candidate in environmental sciences and engineering, for her research on blue-green algae compounds in the air and weather conditions that promote their emission from N.C. bodies of water.
• Sophie Ravanbakht, doctoral candidate in health policy and management, for her work on acculturation — the process and effects of adjusting to a new culture after immigration — and how it relates to obesity in immigrants ages 8-13.
• Adrien Wilkie, (‘21 PhD), epidemiology, for research on the adverse association between ambient sulfur dioxide exposure during pregnancy and pre-term birth, with the goal of informing decisions using coal as a power source.

Fawn Rhodes, a student in the online Master of Public Health (MPH@UNC) program, received a Health Equity Award from the New Hanover County Office of Diversity and Equity in recognition of her work as the county’s public health equity coordinator. She describes her work as “a continuation of efforts that began during the pandemic, [which] shined a light on the inequities and disparities within historically marginalized populations in New Hanover County.”

Carrie Alspaugh, MD, and Jeannie Salisbury, both students in the MPH@UNC Leadership concentration, were selected as N.C. Albert Schweitzer Fellows for 2022-23. They are among 28 N.C. graduate fellows who develop leadership skills by collaborating with community organizations to develop and implement service projects that address the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities while also fulfilling their academic responsibilities. Alspaugh and Salisbury are working on a rural public health project addressing food insecurity.

Gillings graduate student Amy Kryston, who is pursuing an MPH degree in global health, was named the inaugural recipient of the environmental justice graduate research award from the UNC Institute for the Environment. This $50,000 annual stipend is awarded to a UNC graduate student who can demonstrate a research plan that broadens understanding of environmental justice issues in underserved communities. Kryston will examine septic systems and other on-site sanitation usage and their relationship to health and socioeconomic indicators in rural and underserved communities in N.C., a state where nearly 50% of the population uses on-site sanitation systems.

Brooke Staley, MPH, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology and former co-chair of the Minority Student Caucus, was selected as one of 38 awardees in the 2022 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship competition. Selected from more than 600 applicants, she is the first Gillings student to receive this distinction, which is rarely awarded to public health trainees. The award recognizes doctoral candidates who demonstrate superior academic achievement, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Seventeen Gillings students have been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the country’s oldest and most honored college honorary society. These students represent all four Gillings departments that offer a Bachelor of Science in Public Health degree.

Gillings doctoral candidates Hiba Fatima (MCH), Doyoung Kim (HPM) and Sharita R. Thomas (HPM) are part of a team of UNC and NC State University students working to reduce maternal mortality in the United States. The Maternal Mortality team beat more than 40 student teams to win UNC-Chapel Hill’s edition of the Map the System (MTS) competition, organized by Oxford University’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship to encourage students to use systems thinking to understand complex social or environmental challenges, and went on to Oxford to compete in the world finals.

MPH student Karlyn Conery was one of 22 students selected for the summer 2022 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Internship Program, which equips graduate students and recent undergraduates from underrepresented populations to work in the public health field.  

Purva Trivedi, graduate teaching assistant and MPH student in health equity, social justice and human rights (EQUITY), and Celeste Kurz Goodwin, graduate teaching assistant and doctoral student in nutrition, received the 2023 Gillings School Graduate Teaching Assistant (TA) Award.

Examples of grants/contracts

A team of UNC researchers won a five-year, $3 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to assess approaches to scalable, cost-effective screening and treatment strategies to prevent invasive cervical cancer among women living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries and in underserved U.S. communities. Co-principal investigators from Gillings include Jennifer S. Smith, PhD, professor of epidemiology and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member, and Michael Hudgens, PhD, professor and associate chair of biostatistics and the director of the Biostatistics Core of the UNC Center for AIDS Research. Co-investigators from Gillings include Bonnie Shook-Sa, DrPH, assistant professor of biostatistics; and Lisa P. Spees, PhD, assistant professor of health policy and management.

NCI awarded $9.3 million in support of two five-year research projects from UNC researchers in partnership with other institutions as part of the Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Stromal Reprogramming Consortium, which focuses on identifying, integrating and mechanistically evaluating additional tumor microenvironment elements that drive pancreatic cancer progression and response to therapy. Naim Rashid, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics, will help lead the first project, “Integrating tumor and stroma to understand and predict treatment response.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded Gillings a $65 million grant establishing an Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center to develop oral antivirals that can combat pandemic-level viruses like COVID-19. The center builds upon and is tightly affiliated with UNC’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Institute (READDI). The READDI-AViDD Center (READDI-AC), one of nine established by the NIH, is an integrated public-private partnership with a renowned, interdisciplinary research team of experts from the Gillings School, UNC School of Medicine and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. They will apply cutting-edge technologies to develop oral therapies that target viral families with high potential to cause a pandemic in the future.

An interdisciplinary collaboration of UNC researchers co-led by Beth Moracco, PhD, associate professor of health behavior at Gillings and associate director of the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center — has received a state grant from the state’s N.C. Evaluation Fund Grants program to improve Domestic Violence Intervention Programs, which are court-mandated intervention programs intended to be an alternative to incarceration and aim to reduce recidivism related to acts of domestic violence. The Fund was created in 2021 to support research partnerships with state agencies that inform policy and program decisions.

Alison Stuebe, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine and professor of maternal and child health at the Gillings School, is part of a team of researchers that received a $2.4 million grant from the American Heart Association to improve maternal care teams and overcome health care disparities by developing an educational curriculum for students across varying medical fields that are part of the birthing experience.

A research team led by Julia Rager, PhD, assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering, received more than $500,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program to study toxic mixtures of chemicals in wildfire smoke. The funding is part of $7.7 million awarded to 11 institutions working on innovative approaches to inform human health risk assessment of environmental chemical mixtures.

Alexandra Lightfoot, EdD, associate professor of health behavior; and Jen Medearis Costello, MS, an adjunct instructor for the residential MPH program, are part of a UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Women’s Health Research study receiving $12.5 million over the next five years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to identify strategies for implementing pregnancy-related hypertension best practices in the outpatient setting with the goal of reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the NIH, has awarded $4 million to establish the N.C. Consortium for Diversity Career Development in Nutrition, Obesity, and Diabetes Research, a five-year collaboration between the Gillings School’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and the North Carolina Diabetes Research Center (NCDRC) to provide career advancement for nutrition, obesity and diabetes researchers from underrepresented groups, and ultimately, diversify the research workforce dedicated to investigating chronic disease conditions.

Researchers in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering have been awarded a $799,833 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop new analytical methods that can improve the detection of emerging air pollutants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Jason Surratt, PhD, principal investigator and professor of environmental sciences and engineering, will lead the study team, which includes Professor and Chair Barbara Turpin, PhD, and Associate Professor Zhenfa Zhang, PhD.

Gillings news

For the fourth consecutive year, leadership at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health was honored with the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine for outstanding commitment to and ongoing promotion of inclusive excellence. The award reflects one of the school’s core values to build, support and sustain a diverse, equitable and inclusive anti-racist community that can address the impact of systemic racism on health inequities.

Sponsored by the Gillings School and the Institute of Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID), the First Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium took place Nov. 11, 2022, showcasing over 30 investigators from UNC and global sites around the world, including doctoral students, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty.

FACULTY HONORS

Fourteen Gillings faculty members were named to Clarivate’s 2022 list of Highly Cited Researchers™, which recognizes the world’s most influential global research scientists and social scientists whose work is frequently cited by their peers during the last decade. They are:

• Ralph S. Baric, PhD, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology;
• Noel T. Brewer, PhD, Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health and professor of health behavior;
• Stephen R. Cole, PhD, professor of epidemiology;
• Kelly R. Evenson, PhD, professor of epidemiology;
• Rachel Graham, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology;
• Lisa Gralinski, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology;
• Sarah Leist, PhD, research associate in epidemiology;
• Hans W. Paerl, PhD, professor of marine and environmental sciences and engineering and William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor at UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences;
• Barry M. Popkin, PhD, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of nutrition;
• Bryce Reeve, PhD, adjunct professor of health policy and management at Gillings and professor of population health sciences and pediatrics at Duke University;
• Kurt Ribisl, PhD, chair and Jo Anne Earp Distinguished Professor of health behavior;
• Alexandra Schaefer, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology;
• Timothy Sheahan, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology; and
• Amy Sims, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology.

Ralph Baric, PhD, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology at Gillings; professor of microbiology and immunology at the School of Medicine; and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, was elected in 2022 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Founded in 1780, the Academy is both an honorary society that recognizes the excellence of its members and an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions and perspectives to address significant challenges.

Chantel Martin, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology, received the 2022 Gillings Faculty Award for Excellence in Health Equity Research, which recognizes excellence in research by faculty in the Gillings School that advances solutions to health inequities.

Nancy Messonnier, MD, dean and Bryson Distinguished Professor in Public Health at Gillings, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). One of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, election to the academy recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service throughout their careers. Messonnier was selected for NAM membership in 2021 and has been working with the group for about a year.

Melinda Beck, PhD, interim department chair and professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, is among four Carolina faculty members selected as 2022 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the academic journal Science. The selection is one of the most distinguished honors in the scientific community.

Michael R. Kosorok, PhD, W.R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics at Gillings and professor of statistics and operations research at the College of Arts and Sciences, is the 2023 recipient of the George W. Snedecor Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies. The award recognizes Kosorok’s foundational, creative and original contributions to mathematical statistics; methodological developments in empirical processes and machine learning; advancement of precision health; and mentoring of students, postdocs and junior faculty. Kosorok also was named president-elect of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), an international nonprofit organization for scholars and professionals that fosters the development and dissemination of theory and applications of statistics and probability.

Charletta Sims Evans, MEd, associate dean for student affairs, received the Rebecca Clark Staff Award for Moral Courage, which recognizes an individual who demonstrates a strong commitment to social justice, during University Day 2022. Sims Evans has been on the leading edge of advocacy for staff and students, especially during the pandemic when mental health issues escalated. She pioneered a system for reporting microaggressions and recently facilitated a conversation between students and staff following an incident of racial bias and harm. She addresses challenging situations head-on to promote a safe environment for all.

The following faculty members recently completed work funded by Gillings Innovation Laboratory awards (GILs), which support innovative and interdisciplinary research projects to accelerate understanding of COVID-19 and other public health concerns.

• Orlando Coronell, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering, led a study exploring a promising new type of battery technology called a concentration gradient battery (CGB), which has the potential to leverage sustainable saltwater-based energy to mitigate factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
• Stephanie Engel, PhD, professor of epidemiology, led a study using state-of-the-art imaging and analysis to examine the effect of phthalates, or environmental toxins, on early brain and behavior development.
• Karsten Baumann, PhD, assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering, and Barbara Turpin, PhD, professor and chair of environmental sciences and engineering, co-led a study examining air from UNC-Chapel Hill dorm rooms and a UNC football game to learn how to reduce the risk of exposure to infectious viruses.
• Audrey Pettifor, PhD, professor of epidemiology, led a team of UNC researchers working with South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand to understand COVID-19‘s impact on social determinants of health and to examine access to information, prevention tools and vaccines.

Naya Villarreal, MPH — global health associate director for Research, Innovation and Global Solutions and adjunct assistant professor of health behavior at Gillings — was one of 60 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellows,  a diverse group of health leaders from more than 25 states in the U.S. and five other countries who were selected for their work, accomplishments and ability to transform ideas into action.

Jill Stewart, PhD, the Philip C. Singer Distinguished Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, is deputy director of a new Engineering Research Center (ERC) funded by a 5-year, $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Engineering Research Center for Precision Microbiome Engineering, or PreMiEr, aims to understand and improve the microbial communities that inhabit the structures in which we live, work and play — what scientists call the “built environment.”

Amanda Holliday, MS, RDN, LDN, associate professor of nutrition and the program director of the Master of Public Health in Nutrition and Dietetics Program, was elected as the 2022-2023 chair of the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition (NCBDN) — the licensing board for dietitians/nutritionists and nutritionists in the state. She also was appointed to serve on the N.C. Institute of Medicine’s Task Force on Healthy Aging, which focuses on policies and practices that support aging in place in N.C. communities.

Leena Nylander-French, PhD, CIH, director of the N.C. Occupational and Safety and Health Education Resource Center (NC OSHERC) and professor of occupational and environmental health, and John Staley, PhD, NC OSHERC deputy director and adjunct assistant professor of health policy and management, were recognized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for their work assisting underserved workers and small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their program won an honorable mention in the intervention category of the NIOSH Bullard-Sherwood Research-to-Practice (r2p) Awards.

Aaron Salzberg, PhD, director of The Water Institute and the Don and Jennifer Holzworth Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, was one of three UNC faculty to receive the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs’ (OVPGA) inaugural Faculty Award for Global Excellence in recognition of his contributions to advance global partnerships, education and research at UNC.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected Courtney Woods, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering, to serve a three-year term on the new Social and Community Science subcommittee of the EPA Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), a federal committee that advises the EPA’s Office of Research and Development on technical and management issues of its research programs.

David Martinez, PhD, virologist and postdoctoral researcher at Gillings, was named one of 10 recipients of the 2022 Dr. Eddie Méndez award. The recipients are postdoctoral researchers from across the country with research expertise in cancer, infectious disease and basic sciences.

Saame “Raz” Shaikh, PhD, associate professor and associate chair for research in the Department of Nutrition, will serve as director-at-large for nutrition science mechanisms on the American Society for Nutrition (ASN)’s board of directors.

The student-nominated Teaching Excellence and Innovation Awards honor Gillings faculty members who inspire students; enhance student learning through creative, engaging and innovative teaching methods; and/or support student success in the classroom and student growth as public health professionals. The 2022-23 award winners are:

• Naim Rashid, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics;
• Chantel Martin, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology;
• Musa Manga, PhD, assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering;
• Abigail Hatcher, PhD, assistant professor of health behavior;
• Melanie Studer, PhD, MSHA, assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Health Policy and Management;
• Aunchalee Palmquist, PhD, MA, IBCLC, assistant professor of maternal and child health;
• Anna Kahkoska, PhD, assistant professor of nutrition; and
• Emily Taylor, MPH, adjunct instructor for MPH@UNC.

Michael Hudgens, PhD, professor and associate chair of biostatistics, received the John E. Larsh Jr. Award for Mentorship, one of the School’s most prestigious awards, which recognizes the faculty member who best exemplifies the qualities of mentoring and commitment to students.

Lindsey Smith-Taillie, PhD, associate professor and associate chair of academics in the Department of Nutrition, received the Edward G. McGavran Award for Excellence in Teaching, which recognizes career-long excellence in teaching by a faculty member at the Gillings School.

Jason West, PhD, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, received one of the School’s most prestigious awards, the Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award for excellence in teaching, research and service.

Faculty positions

Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Medicine, was named dean of The Graduate School at UNC. For the past eight years, Mayer-Davis has served as chair of the nationally recognized Department of Nutrition and directed the UNC Nutrition Obesity Research Center. She was principal investigator for the Carolina clinical site of the landmark SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study and co-chaired this multi-center study for more than 15 years. Throughout her career she has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and secured more than $45 million in active research funding.

Jane Monaco, DrPH, associate professor of biostatistics, was named assistant dean of undergraduate degree programs. In this administrative role, she will provide important leadership for undergraduate degree programs schoolwide while maintaining her teaching, service and research responsibilities as a faculty member and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Biostatistics.

Matthew Chamberlin was appointed associate dean for communications and marketing. Chamberlin has led the Office of Communications and Marketing at the Gillings School since May 2019. He has doubled the size of the team, provided critical leadership to grow the School’s reputation as the number one public school of public health, and fostered an environment that values clear and transparent communication.

Kim Ramsey-White, PhD, joined Gillings last year as associate dean for inclusive excellence. She served as assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Georgia State University School of Public Health, where she oversaw the design and implementation of all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Ramsey-White earned her doctoral degree from Georgia State in research management and statistics and her Master of Public Health degree in maternal and child health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

John Wiesman, DrPH, MPH, has been named associate dean for practice. In this role, he will provide guidance to achieve the School’s vision and goals for putting public health training into action and will represent the school’s commitment to practice across the University, the state and beyond. Wiesman, who earned his Doctor of Public Health degree from Gillings in 2012, has more than 30 years of experience in governmental public health practice and policy.

Alumni

Leah McCall Devlin, DDS, MPH, professor of the practice in health policy and management and 1984 Master of Public Health alumna, received the 2023 Harriet Hylton Barr Distinguished Alumni Award, which honors an alumnus or alumna for outstanding achievements and contributions to public health.

Christina Mack, PhD, alumna and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology, was named chief scientific officer (CSO) for Real World Solutions at the pharmaceutical research organization IQVIA. She replaces Nancy Dreyer, PhD ’79, adjunct professor of epidemiology, who is retiring after nearly 20 years with the company. Mack earned two degrees in epidemiology from Gillings: a Master of Science in Public Health (2010) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (2013).

Environmental sciences and engineering alumni Calvin Arter, PhD (‘21), and David Gorelick, PhD (‘21), were named to the 50th cohort of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellows (STPF). The program places scientists with a doctoral or master’s degree in engineering in federal government agencies to provide scientific expertise in policymaking. Arter works with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Management Strategy and Solutions as a member of the Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI), aiming to reduce the country’s environmental footprint in diplomatic engagements. Gorelick was placed with the Office of Canadian Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, focusing mainly on negotiations between the two countries on how to manage hydropower in watersheds that span the border.

Two Gillings graduates received 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awards from UNC-Chapel Hill during University Day in recognition of their outstanding contributions to humanity:

• Nicole K. Bates, MPH (’00), DrPH (’08), is director of strategic partnerships and initiatives for Pivotal Ventures, a company founded by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress. A public health leader and strategist with decades of experience working to improve health and development opportunities in the U.S. and abroad, she studied in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the Department of Health Behavior.
• F. DuBois Bowman, PhD (’00), a graduate of the Department of Biostatistics, is dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a renowned expert in the statistical analysis of large complex data sets. His ongoing research program has important implications for mental and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, schizophrenia and substance addiction.

Two Gillings alumnae were chosen to be part of the North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (NCASF) program for 2022-23. Schweitzer Fellows collaborate with community organizations on service projects that address the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities. Anna Dodson, MPH, who now studies at the UNC School of Medicine, is working to address food insecurity among N.C. families by expanding a pay-it-forward meal donation program, assisting N.C. Medicaid’s Healthy Opportunity Pilots and developing a socially driven food sourcing platform in partnership with Equiti Foods. Kelly Goo, MPH, now a medical student at Duke University, is helping low-income elderly and/or disabled people living in Durham, N.C., by implementing a hybrid telehealth/home visiting program.

Emilia Ndely-Ogundipe, MHA ’15 (health policy and management), MBA, was selected as a 2022 White House Presidential Innovation Fellow (PIF) to work with the U.S. Department of Labor to develop impactful products and services. The PIF program brings together expertise in data science, design and systems thinking in a mission-driven setting, where fellows work on solutions to issues of national importance.

Gillings alumnus Ronald Aubert, PhD, is interim dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Aubert earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Department of Epidemiology in 1990 and has had a broad and varied career in public health that includes research, education and practice and leadership in the public and private sectors.

In memoriam

Gerardo Heiss, MD, PhD, W.R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology, passed away June 11, 2022, at the age of 80. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Heiss earned a medical degree from the University of Chile at Santiago in 1968, a master’s degree in social medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1973, and in 1976 a doctoral degree in epidemiology from UNC-Chapel Hill, where he then became a faculty member. Leading several large, multicenter epidemiologic studies and clinical trials with support from the NIH, he became internationally known for his work in noninvasive studies of subclinical atherosclerosis, socioeconomic status over the life course, women’s health, minority health, modifiable predictors of cardiovascular disease outcomes and applications of electronic health records in population research. In recognition of his commitment to teaching and mentoring, he received some of the Gillings School’s most prestigious awards: the Edward C. McGavran Award for Teaching in 1993, the Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award in 1998 and the John E. Larsh Award for Mentorship in 2011. In 2015, he was honored with the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention Mentoring Award. Among his nearly 600 published papers, Heiss co-authored more than 85 peer-reviewed articles with lead authorship by mentees, fellows and students. He mentored 12 early career NIH awardees and eight assistant professors who went on to achieve tenure at UNC and other institutions.

Jo Anne Earp, ScD, longtime professor and former chair of the Department of Health Behavior and a fixture in the Gillings community even after her retirement, passed away Nov. 18, 2022, at the age of 79. Please see pages 30-33 of this issue for remembrances from colleagues and some of the former students she taught and mentored.

Dr. Craig Turnbull, professor emeritus and former director of the Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) program in biostatistics, passed away Dec. 8, 2022, at the age of 82. Turnbull had a profound personal and professional impact on the Gillings School of Global Public Health, especially undergraduate students for whom he advocated and worked tirelessly. He received a Master of Public Health degree in 1965 and Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1971, both from the Department of Biostatistics, and would go on to serve as a faculty member in biostatistics from 1972 to 2006, when he retired and became professor emeritus. As the director of the BSPH biostatistics program from its inception in 1975 until he retired, Turnbull mentored countless students, many of whom have gone on to immensely successful careers. Additionally, he was a prolific public health researcher with over 350 publications and presentations to his name at the time of his retirement and was principal investigator of the first training grant in mental health statistics supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. In 1997, Turnbull was awarded the Harriet Hylton Barr Distinguished Alumni Award for his commitment and service to public health, impact in his field and outstanding service beyond the requirements of employment. One of his four children, Lori Evarts, MPH, associate professor, is a Gillings graduate in biostatistics and currently on the faculty in the Public Health Leadership Program, where she continues her father’s legacy through excellence in leadership and teaching.

William “Bill” John Smith, IV, passed away Dec. 27, 2022, at his home in Lumberton, N.C., at age 73. He had served as the health director for Robeson County, N.C., for nearly 35 years. Smith served in Vietnam as an infantryman with the 101st Airborne, studied psychology at USC Coastal Carolina College and worked for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for more than a decade before coming to N.C. In 1986, he earned his Master of Public Health degree from UNC’s health policy and administration program (now the Department of Health Policy and Management) and became Robeson County’s health director in 1998. In that role, he joined the task force that created N.C.’s mandated accreditation program for local health departments (LHDs) — the first program in the country to ensure a standard minimum level of capacity and services in each local health department. Smith devoted his life to ensuring that as many services as possible were available in rural health departments throughout N.C. In Robeson County, he oversaw the development of a model obstetrical care program; the launch of a multicounty, public/private immunization tracking system; the establishment of three primary care clinics; and the development of a Satellite Animal Shelter. He was instrumental in trailblazing efforts in livestock ordinances and tattoo/piercing regulations that received state and national recognition, and received numerous awards for his dedication. His legacy lives on through the many public health professionals he trained and mentored during his long and distinguished career.

Public health practitioners protect and improve the health of people and communities. They focus on root causes of disease and use evidence to develop policies and practices that create the conditions for people to thrive. Their remit is broad, as are the scope and actions of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Unrestricted giving supports timely solutions to pressing public health challenges.

Charitable giving supports excellence in research, education and practice at the Gillings School through merit-based scholarships, professorships, project-based support and unrestricted giving. These funds make up a portion of our operating budget with the rest coming from such sources as state appropriations, student tuition and government grants.

Contributions from generous members of our community fueled record-breaking success during the Campaign for Carolina, raising millions to support public health across North Carolina and around the world.

As well as educating the next generation of public health leaders, members of the UNC Gillings faculty are engaged in diverse projects, from engineering new ways to filter PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or “forever chemicals”) from water to training health care workers to provide mothers and newborns with evidence-based care. They pursue the aim of improved health wherever it leads.

Tackling big problems means working across disciplines, institutions and sectors. We must remain nimble and flexible while working within unavoidable constraints. By providing flexibility, unrestricted giving amplifies our impact, allowing the Gillings School to allocate funding toward the areas of greatest need and emerging issues. For example, flexible funding allowed us to pursue studies that directly contributed to our understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Making a planned gift was the best way for us to make a big impact on that pool of unrestricted funds,” said Todd A. Durham, PhD ’16 (health policy and management), MS ’95 (biostatistics), member of the Public Health Foundation Board of Directors (the organization that manages funds raised through annual giving). “Whether to attract students or deal with emergencies, I know it will be used well.”

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I was fortunate to count Gillings School scientists as colleagues and friends, and I followed the ground-breaking and life-saving research coming out of the school. Now, as dean, I look forward to focusing with the Gillings community on important initiatives already underway to enhance our work in public health practice, global health and inclusive excellence, among many other topics.

[Get to know Nancy Messonnier. Read interview.]

My 25 years at the CDC gave me a catchphrase to which I often return: Vaccines on a shelf are 0% effective.

This is one area where the Gillings School, the No. 1 public school of public health and second overall, is making a difference. Whether it be through vaccines, policy, research or education, we must continue to take a leadership role in a way that involves all our departments and draws on all our strengths to put life-saving tools into effect.

As we move forward, I want to set the school up for success through a consistent focus on follow-through and forward-looking action. Scientific discovery is incredibly important. Equally, the lessons our faculty teach must always come back to practical application, because what is true for vaccines is true for all public health interventions: They can only be effective if they can be implemented well.

One of my top goals for Gillings is that everything we do culminates in a positive, tangible difference in the world.

We must use these action-oriented approaches to dismantle structures of systemic racism that result in disproportionate suffering among communities of color. We can’t just examine the outcomes of injustice; we must detail the drivers and use that evidence to push for policy change, even when it seems to lie beyond the borders of public health. Housing and transportation, for example, may seem outside our scope, but they are pivotal determinants of well-being and access to health care.

Today’s students must learn how to dialogue across difference and find common values. I want to encourage a culture of reality around what practicing public health is like outside the University. The more clearly students can visualize the twisty path from idea to outcome — and the more landmarks we offer them for course correcting along the way — the better prepared they will be to arrive at a place of meaningful impact.

Here’s to forging a path to better health for all — together.  

‍Nancy Messonnier, MD
‍Dean, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Some of our funded projects include:

• Statistical methods for integrative analysis of large-scale neuroimaging data — Quefeng Li, PhD/Biostatistics (2021-2026)
• ‍Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative-AViDD Center (READDI-AC) — Ralph Baric, PhD/Epidemiology (2022-2025)
• ‍Examining state SNAP policies as a primary prevention strategy for early life exposure to violence and other adverse childhood experiences — Anna Austin, PhD/Maternal and Child Health (2021-2024)
• ‍Rapid, multi-payer transition to value-based payment: The case of North Carolina — Valerie Lewis, PhD/Health Policy and Management (2022-2025)
• ‍Nutrition for precision health: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Clinical Center — Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD/Nutrition (2021-2026)
• ‍Carolina Center for Total Worker Health and Well-Being — Laura Linnan, ScD/Health Behavior (2021-2026)

Examples of health equity projects:

• Measuring the impact of structural racism and discrimination during adolescence on substance use, psychological distress and criminal justice outcomes in adulthood
  — Nisha Gottfredson, PhD/Health Behavior (2022-2026)
• ‍Black community’s vision for and accountability of a local reparations process — Tamarie Macon, PhD/Public Health Leadership Program (2021-2023)
• ‍Racialization and cardiovascular risk factors among Latinos: An intersectional approach — Deshira Wallace, PhD/Health Behavior (2022-2027)
• ‍Environmental Justice Applied Research Clinic (EJ ARC): Developing community-driven solutions to environmental racism — Courtney Woods, PhD/Environmental Sciences and Engineering (2021-2022)

Enrollment has grown substantially, especially within the residential and online Master of Public Health (MPH) programs.

• Students from underrepresented communities now comprise 24.1% of all students in the school, up from 23.5% last year.
• Nearly 35.7% of MPH@UNC students are from underrepresented communities, up from 32% last year.
• Our Assured Enrollment program has helped increase enrollment in Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) degree majors.

Faculty who teach in the Gillings MPH Core assess their syllabi annually to strengthen equity frameworks, content, class discussions and skills development. Other Gillings programs are also strengthening equity content and skills development. The academic affairs and inclusive excellence teams are collaborating on strategic planning to expand these efforts.

• We instituted a new online applied epidemiology concentration and are welcoming our first students this fall.
• Established joint MPH degree program between UNC Asheville and UNC Gillings on the campus of the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), with a concentration in place-based health.

Future goals include:

• Launching a new Bachelor of Science in Public Health major in global and community health,
• Establishing a peer faculty mentoring program or teaching fellow academy,
• Securing more financial resources for students,
• Establishing student recruitment partnerships with local institutions that serve underrepresented communities,
• Pursuing more online options to improve flexibility for students, and
• Continuous quality improvement to strengthen public health training at the school.

We continue to grow our areas of global strength in nutrition; infectious disease epidemiology; water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH); health behavior; and sexual and reproductive health.

We maintained our global work in the face of COVID-19, with our work spanning 45+ countries focusing on a wide range of health problems, settings and approaches. More than 80 of the 240 faculty members at Gillings focus on global health, working across our eight departments. In FY 21-22, our funding for research that included global components was $118 million, making up about 42% of total funding to the Gillings School.

In keeping with UNC’s commitment to the Global Guarantee to make a transformative global education available to all students, we offer over 40 courses with global content, and the MPH Core integrates global and local content. We had over 200 international students from 46 countries. 77 students received over $130k in travel awards for practicum, conferences and research.

We continue to maintain strong partnerships to offer student research and practice opportunities with FHI 360, IntraHealth International, RTI International, UNC-Wits partnership, CDC Dengue Branch, CDC Foundation, Male Contraceptive Initiative, and UNC Gillings Zambia Hub with UNC Global Women’s Health.

With the support of the Gillings Global Health Advisory Committee, we finalized an eight-year strategic plan for global health at Gillings. This plan, which was endorsed by the Dean’s Council, outlines goals for global programming in research, training and practice that will be led by our Gillings Global Health office.  

Since February 2022, Robert Smith III, PhD, has served as the vice dean of the Gillings School. In this role, his two key goals are, in his words, “to eliminate redundancies and reduce inefficiencies.” Prior to joining the Gillings School, Smith spent 10 years at the UNC School of Medicine, most recently as associate chair for administration in the department of neurology. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Smith’s commitment to public health goes back to his childhood where, as a young man, he earned the nickname “Doc.”

Smith provides operational leadership to the Gillings School during a time of transition — when the pandemic has changed many of our assumptions about work and the role of public health in society. Old habits of work and learning are being examined, and he brings his experience with “The Future of Work”  from his time at the School of Medicine.

Smith is a seasoned leader, lecturer, manager, administrator and training consultant, with more than 20 years of experience.

Outside of work, Smith is an avid cyclist, dating back to his time as a member of the Piedmont Flyers cycling team.