carolina public health, spring 2008, leadership
DESCRIPTION
Carolina Public Health is a semi-annual magazine produced by the communications group at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.TRANSCRIPT
S P R I N G 2 0 0 8
Public Health Foundation, Incorporated B o a R d o f d I R e c t o R S
fred t. Brown, Jr., MPH, facHeFoundation Board PresidentManaging Director, Business DevelopmentCarolinas HealthCare System
Susanne Glen Moulton, Jd, MPHFoundation Board Vice PresidentDirectorPatient Assistance and Reimbursement ProgramsGlaxoSmithKline
delton atkinson, MPH, MPH, PMPSpecial Assistant for Re-engineering and Registration MethodsDivision of Vital StatisticsNational Center for Health StatisticsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Ronald e. aubert, Phd, MSPHVice President, Clinical Analytics, Outcomes and ReportingMedco Health Solutions, Incorporated
david J. Ballard, Md, MSPH, Phd, facPSenior Vice President and Chief Quality OfficerBaylor Health Care SystemExecutive Director and BHCS Endowed ChairInstitute for Health Care Research and Improvement
Kelly B. Browning, MaExecutive Vice PresidentAmerican Institute for Cancer Research
deniese M. chaney, MPHSenior Manager, Healthcare PracticeAccenture Health and Life Sciences
Michael (trey) a. crabb, III, MHa, MBaManaging Director, Investment BankingAvondale Partners, LLC
Leah devlin, ddS, MPHState Health Director and Director, Division of Public HealthN.C. Department of Health and Human Services
david L. dodson, Mdiv (Honorary Member)PresidentMDC, Incorporated
cynthia J. Girman, drPH Senior Director, Department of EpidemiologyMerck Research Laboratories
Shelley d. Golden, MPHLecturerDepartment of Health Behavior and Health EducationUNC School of Public Health
Sandra W. Green, MBa, MHa, BSPHPresidentEast Coast Customer Management GroupMedAssets, Incorporated
c. david Hardison, PhdCorporate Vice President, Life SciencesScience Applications International Corporation
deborah Parham Hopson, Phd, RNAssistant Surgeon GeneralAssociate Administrator, HIV/AIDS BureauHealth Resources and Services Administration
Joan c. Huntley, Phd, MPHAdjunct Professor of EpidemiologyUNC School of Public Health
Lisa M. LaVange, PhdProfessor and Director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating CenterDepartment of BiostatisticsUNC School of Public Health
Mark H. Merrill, MSPH (Honorary Member)President Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
Beverly N. Mirman, dPa, MPa, MSPHPinehurst, NC
douglas M. owen, Pe, BceeVice PresidentMalcolm Pirnie, Incorporated
Jonathan J. Pullin, MSPresident and Chief Executive Officer The Environmental Group of the Carolinas, Incorporated
Roy J. Ramthun, MSPHPresidentHSA Consulting Services, LLC
Jacky ann Rosati, PhdEnvironmental Scientist and Containment Area LeadU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyNational Homeland Security Research Center
Ilene c. Siegler, Phd, MPHProfessor of Medical PsychologyDuke University
Paula Brown Stafford, MPHExecutive Vice PresidentGlobal Data Management and BiostatisticsQuintiles Transnational Corporation
Russell B. toal, MPHVisiting Associate Professor of Public HealthInstitute of Public HealthGeorgia State University
John c. triplett, Md, MPHRegional Medical OfficerBethesda, MD
Robert d. Verhalen, drPHChief Executive OfficerVerhalen and Associates, LLC
Jack e. Wilson, MSeNVRetiredBoard of DirectorsTEC, Incorporated
thomas K. Wong, PhdVice PresidentMeganium Corporation
dennis Gillings, cBeAdvisory Council ChairChairman and Chief Executive OfficerQuintiles Transnational Corporation
William K. atkinson, Phd, MPHPresident and Chief Executive OfficerWakeMed
Joseph carsanaro, MBa, MSeeGeneral ManagerPersonal Communications SectorMotorola, Incorporated
Willard cates, Jr., Md, MPHPresident, ResearchFamily Health International
andrew conrad, PhdChief Scientific OfficerNational Genetics Institute
Keith crisco, MBaPresidentAsheboro Elastics Corporation
Nancy a. dreyer, Phd, MPHChief of Scientific AffairsOUTCOME
Ken eudyChief Executive OfficerCapstrat
Robert J. Greczyn, Jr., MPHPresident and Chief Executive OfficerBlueCross and BlueShield of North Carolina
James R. Hendricks, Jr., MSVice President of Environment, Health and Safety (Retired)Duke Energy
J. douglas Holladay, MdivGeneral PartnerPark Avenue Equity Partners, LP
donald a. Holzworth, MSSenior Vice PresidentDirector, Global Health SectorSRA International, Incorporated
david P. KingPresident and Chief Executive OfficerLaboratory Corporation of America
a. dennis McBride, Md, MPHHealth DirectorCity of Milford, Connecticut
John McconnellRaleigh, NC
Guy Miller, Md, PhdChairman and Chief Executive OfficerEdison Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated
carmen Hooker odom, MSPresidentMilbank Memorial Fund
Jane Smith PattersonExecutive DirectorThe e-NC Authority
Joan Siefert Rose, MPHGeneral ManagerNorth Carolina Public Radio-WUNC
charles a. Sanders, MdChapel Hill, NC
Michael c. tarwater, MHa, facHePresident and Chief Executive OfficerCarolinas HealthCare System
Paul M. Wiles, MHaPresident and Chief Executive OfficerNovant Health, Incorporated
2008 School of Public Health a d V I S o R y c o u N c I L
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 1
contents10
12
16
24
27
spring 2008
4 Public HealtH leaders
6 leading tHe Way:
scHool Programs create
leadersHiP oPPortunities
8 relying on Herself, looking out
for tHe cHildren: saraH morroW
10 tHe day tHat cHanged
nortH carolina Public HealtH:
leaH devlin
12 integrity WitH a caPital I:
deboraH ParHam HoPson
14 moulton Pairs laW, Public HealtH
exPertise to influence HealtH
Policy: sandy moulton
15 comPetence and cHarisma:
P. lamont bryant
16 creating a culture of
collaboration: raymond
greenberg
18 from PuPPies to PeoPle:
bob Weedon
20 to sHare tHe vision and toucH
tHe soul: roland edgar (eddie)
mHlanga
22 efficient, reliable injury data
collection saves lives:
robert verHalen
24 a reciPe for leadersHiP:
greg allgood
26 develoP collaborative
Practices: lillian rivera
27 building PartnersHiPs to stoP
disease: victor c ceres
29 ePidemiologists Provide comPass
for PHarmaceutical researcH:
alice WHite
30 transforming HealtH tHrougH
Passionate leadersHiP:
don HolzWortH
32 groWing into leadersHiP:
nicole bates
features & news
continued 8
e mourn the passing of three
great campus leaders this year
and dedicate this issue to them:Daniel A. Okun
(1917-2007)Herman A. (Al)
Tyroler (1924-2007)
Eve Marie Carson
(1985-2008)
2 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 3
That’s a tall order and even more challenging than it sounds. First, there has to be a vision, and then one has to transform reality.
The first time I met Dennis Gillings, CEO of Quintiles Transnational Corp, it was obvious that he was a master at transforming vision into reality. Don Holzworth, former Constella CEO, has that ability. So do Leah Devlin (State Health Director and Director of the N.C. Division of Public Health), Car-men Hooker Odom (Former Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and now Milbank Memorial Fund President) and Bill Atkin-son (CEO Wake Med). And they’re not alone.
Leadership is a critical ingredient to improve health in the 21st century. Problems facing us are vast — huge disparities in the health of people across the U.S. and around the world, rising threats of infectious and chronic diseases, rising costs and plummeting resources, challenges of allocating new technologies so they benefit as many people as possible, and assuring that all people in the U.S. have access to health care. In today’s world, we need strong leadership more than ever before.
While in the past, public health leaders may have focused primarily on the poor and disenfran-chised, now we recognize that to achieve measur-able improvements in community health, broader partnerships across sectors are needed — with religious organizations, businesses and a variety of non-government organizations. Public health must be broader, deeper and more inclusive.
Strong leaders I have known, like Dan Amos, AFLAC CEO, and Dr. Richard Klausner, former head of the National Cancer Institute, recognize that they must bring many people to the table to achieve their goals. That may mean new voices, such as businesses working with government or community representa-tives and advocates joining scientists. Future public health leaders will require greater reach, more part-ners and new funding models. New partners won’t all look like us. They should represent the different domains needed to solve problems.
Strong leaders have clear ethical codes that guide them. They are willing to take tough stands on difficult issues. Dr. Dan Okun (Environmental Sciences and Engineering professor and former chair), Dr. Lucy Morgan (Health Behavior and
Health Education professor and former chair) and UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday were exem-plars in this regard, forever enlightening Chapel Hill through their personal and professional stands against segregation. I am proud of Carolina’s tradi-tion in this regard.
It also is critical that leaders remember that we are not our jobs and offices. My father interacted with a lot of celebrities in his job at the American Cancer Society, but he never got carried away with a sense of his own importance. I like the adage that our friends are the ones we had before we were directors, presidents and deans. And our dogs love us no matter what! Leadership benefits from perspective.
Across our School, there are hundreds of examples of leadership — people who lead programs and depart-ments, who see needs and act on them, who mobilize people, run organizations, and improve health.
I point to three examples of leadership —demonstrated by students. Carolina for Kibera, an organization devoted to improving the lives of people living in one of the world’s worst slums, was started by Carolina students, including Kim Chap-man Page, one of our own master’s of public health alumni. Carolina for Kibera is a remarkable orga-nization that has received worldwide recognition. This year, the Minority Student Caucus mounted the 29th annual Minority Health Conference, with more than 620 people attending. Janelle Armstrong-Brown and Eboni Taylor led the effort with incred-ibly maturity. (Visit www.minority.unc.edu and see page 48.) Our Global Health Advisory Committee has mobilized people across the School and campus to focus on global health. In February 2008, they hosted the first global fashion show, raising more than $3,000 for Honduran Health Alliance. (Visit www.sph.unc.edu/ogh.)
Leadership is a fundamental part of improving the public’s health. It is our imperative. I am so impressed by the leaders this School has helped de-velop. Please read about some of them in the pages that follow. Together, let us transform the vision of a healthier world into reality.
Dr. BarBara K. rimer
33 scHool alum revolutionizes
study of occuPational
ePidemiology: aaron blair
34 Putting teetH in Public HealtH:
lynn mouden
36 a Way WitH Water: alfonso
zavala
38 success is a team effort:
HeatHer munroe-blum
40 dare county HealtH director
identifies tHe Win-Win and
Works to tHat end: anne tHomas
41 let’s cHange tHe question:
WHat are your dreams? —
fiorella Horna-guerra
42 vice President at amgen, inc. says
connections made at carolina
continue: george Williams
43 WHen ricketts talks, tHe n.c.
general assembly listens:
tHomas ricketts
46 scHool neWs
51 in memoriam: dr. al tyroler,
dr. daniel okun and
craig micHalak remembered
54 aWards & recognitions:
sePtember 2007 – aPril 2008
57 celebrating friends WHo make
a World of dIfference
58 $100,000 gift HelPs scHool create
certificate in global HealtH in
distance education format
59 unc Professor establisHes neW
ProfessorsHiP for visiting
faculty from develoPing
countries
59 scHool exceeds carolIna
fIrst goal
60 gsk extends suPPort for
PHarmacoePidemiology center
contents continued 38 43 48
spring 2008 Dean
Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH
Director of communications
Ramona DuBose
eDitor
Emily J. Smith
associate Dean for external affairs
Peggy Dean Glenn
Design anD ProDuction
Karen Hibbert
UNC Design Services
contributing Writers
Margarita De Pano, Paul Frellick,
Bev Holt, Linda Kastleman,
Kathleen Kearns, Anne Menkens,
Prashant Nair, PhD, Gene Pinder
and Angela Spivey
Articles appearing in Carolina
Public Health may be reprinted with
permission from the editor. Send
correspondence to Editor, Carolina
Public Health, UNC School of Public
Health, Campus Box 7400, Chapel
Hill, NC 27599-7400, or phone
919.966.8498 or send e-mail to
subscribe to carolina Public HealtH
www.sph.unc.edu/cph
22,000 copies of this document were
printed at a cost of $19,839 or $0.90
per copy.
Carolina Public Health is a publication
of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
from the Dean’s desk
Warren Bennis, internationally renowned leadership scholar, said that leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality.
opportunities to invest
2 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 3
That’s a tall order and even more challenging than it sounds. First, there has to be a vision, and then one has to transform reality.
The first time I met Dennis Gillings, CEO of Quintiles Transnational Corp, it was obvious that he was a master at transforming vision into reality. Don Holzworth, former Constella CEO, has that ability. So do Leah Devlin (State Health Director and Director of the N.C. Division of Public Health), Car-men Hooker Odom (Former Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and now Milbank Memorial Fund President) and Bill Atkin-son (CEO Wake Med). And they’re not alone.
Leadership is a critical ingredient to improve health in the 21st century. Problems facing us are vast — huge disparities in the health of people across the U.S. and around the world, rising threats of infectious and chronic diseases, rising costs and plummeting resources, challenges of allocating new technologies so they benefit as many people as possible, and assuring that all people in the U.S. have access to health care. In today’s world, we need strong leadership more than ever before.
While in the past, public health leaders may have focused primarily on the poor and disenfran-chised, now we recognize that to achieve measur-able improvements in community health, broader partnerships across sectors are needed — with religious organizations, businesses and a variety of non-government organizations. Public health must be broader, deeper and more inclusive.
Strong leaders I have known, like Dan Amos, AFLAC CEO, and Dr. Richard Klausner, former head of the National Cancer Institute, recognize that they must bring many people to the table to achieve their goals. That may mean new voices, such as businesses working with government or community representa-tives and advocates joining scientists. Future public health leaders will require greater reach, more part-ners and new funding models. New partners won’t all look like us. They should represent the different domains needed to solve problems.
Strong leaders have clear ethical codes that guide them. They are willing to take tough stands on difficult issues. Dr. Dan Okun (Environmental Sciences and Engineering professor and former chair), Dr. Lucy Morgan (Health Behavior and
Health Education professor and former chair) and UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday were exem-plars in this regard, forever enlightening Chapel Hill through their personal and professional stands against segregation. I am proud of Carolina’s tradi-tion in this regard.
It also is critical that leaders remember that we are not our jobs and offices. My father interacted with a lot of celebrities in his job at the American Cancer Society, but he never got carried away with a sense of his own importance. I like the adage that our friends are the ones we had before we were directors, presidents and deans. And our dogs love us no matter what! Leadership benefits from perspective.
Across our School, there are hundreds of examples of leadership — people who lead programs and depart-ments, who see needs and act on them, who mobilize people, run organizations, and improve health.
I point to three examples of leadership —demonstrated by students. Carolina for Kibera, an organization devoted to improving the lives of people living in one of the world’s worst slums, was started by Carolina students, including Kim Chap-man Page, one of our own master’s of public health alumni. Carolina for Kibera is a remarkable orga-nization that has received worldwide recognition. This year, the Minority Student Caucus mounted the 29th annual Minority Health Conference, with more than 620 people attending. Janelle Armstrong-Brown and Eboni Taylor led the effort with incred-ibly maturity. (Visit www.minority.unc.edu and see page 48.) Our Global Health Advisory Committee has mobilized people across the School and campus to focus on global health. In February 2008, they hosted the first global fashion show, raising more than $3,000 for Honduran Health Alliance. (Visit www.sph.unc.edu/ogh.)
Leadership is a fundamental part of improving the public’s health. It is our imperative. I am so impressed by the leaders this School has helped de-velop. Please read about some of them in the pages that follow. Together, let us transform the vision of a healthier world into reality.
Dr. BarBara K. rimer
33 scHool alum revolutionizes
study of occuPational
ePidemiology: aaron blair
34 Putting teetH in Public HealtH:
lynn mouden
36 a Way WitH Water: alfonso
zavala
38 success is a team effort:
HeatHer munroe-blum
40 dare county HealtH director
identifies tHe Win-Win and
Works to tHat end: anne tHomas
41 let’s cHange tHe question:
WHat are your dreams? —
fiorella Horna-guerra
42 vice President at amgen, inc. says
connections made at carolina
continue: george Williams
43 WHen ricketts talks, tHe n.c.
general assembly listens:
tHomas ricketts
46 scHool neWs
51 in memoriam: dr. al tyroler,
dr. daniel okun and
craig micHalak remembered
54 aWards & recognitions:
sePtember 2007 – aPril 2008
57 celebrating friends WHo make
a World of dIfference
58 $100,000 gift HelPs scHool create
certificate in global HealtH in
distance education format
59 unc Professor establisHes neW
ProfessorsHiP for visiting
faculty from develoPing
countries
59 scHool exceeds carolIna
fIrst goal
60 gsk extends suPPort for
PHarmacoePidemiology center
contents continued 38 43 48
spring 2008 Dean
Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH
Director of communications
Ramona DuBose
eDitor
Emily J. Smith
associate Dean for external affairs
Peggy Dean Glenn
Design anD ProDuction
Karen Hibbert
UNC Design Services
contributing Writers
Margarita De Pano, Paul Frellick,
Bev Holt, Linda Kastleman,
Kathleen Kearns, Anne Menkens,
Prashant Nair, PhD, Gene Pinder
and Angela Spivey
Articles appearing in Carolina
Public Health may be reprinted with
permission from the editor. Send
correspondence to Editor, Carolina
Public Health, UNC School of Public
Health, Campus Box 7400, Chapel
Hill, NC 27599-7400, or phone
919.966.8498 or send e-mail to
subscribe to carolina Public HealtH
www.sph.unc.edu/cph
22,000 copies of this document were
printed at a cost of $19,839 or $0.90
per copy.
Carolina Public Health is a publication
of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
from the Dean’s desk
Warren Bennis, internationally renowned leadership scholar, said that leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality.
opportunities to invest
4 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Then came the first challenge — how to de-
fine “leadership” for the issue. The spectrum
of possibilities seemed endless.
We looked at programs at our School with
“leadership” in their names — Public Health
Leadership Program, Executive Doctoral
Program in Health Leadership, Emerging
Leaders in Public Health….
These are all wonderful programs that
have produced or enhanced the careers of
many of our public health leaders. But every
department and every program at our School
has “developing leadership” as a principal
foundation of its very existence. We train
leaders. So we asked each department in the
School to nominate graduates who have be-
come outstanding leaders. The response was
astronomical. We were inundated with fabu-
lous examples of “public health leaders” at
different levels, disciplines and career stages.
We didn’t have room in one magazine
to cover them all. So, taking a deep breath,
an editorial board of School representa-
tives selected the people profiled here. This
sample of profiles is not intended, by any
means, to be a complete or definitive list.
Leadership profiles will be a regular feature
in the magazine. Please send us suggestions!
The work of our graduates and faculty is
inspiring, indeed. By communicating their
stories of leadership, we want to share
“best practices” and provide opportu-
nities for others in the field to make
connections.
What makes a leader?John Quincy Adams once said, “If
your actions inspire others to dream
more, learn more, do more and
become more, you are a leader.”
As we began our profiles for this
issue, certain ideas kept resurfac-
ing: make sustainable changes; create
vision and inspire people; help people
help themselves; build bridges; listen to
people, then listen some more; compro-
mise; negotiate…. Here’s more of what our
alumni shared about leadership:
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson, assistant
surgeon general and rear admiral in
the Commissioned Corps of the U.S.
Public Health Service, holds a monthly
“Chat and Chew” luncheon to listen to
employees of the HIV/AIDS bureau she
oversees. “If you’re a leader, you listen to
employees and try to treat them like they
want to be treated,” she says. (See page
12.)
A colleague says that Dare County
Health Director Anne Thomas “commu-
nicates honestly and directly what others
are afraid to say, and she is heard because
she seeks to understand and solve, not
judge or blame.” (See page 40.)
Water specialist Greg Allgood learned
from his mentor and boss, Procter &
Gamble CEO John Pepper, that, “To be
a great leader, you have to be willing to
serve.” (See page 24.)
Leadership starts with visionOne of the foremost leaders associated with
our School is former biostatistics professor Dr.
Dennis Gillings, chairman and chief executive
officer of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and
chair of the School’s Advisory Council.
Gillings, CBE (Commander of the Brit-
ish Empire), and his wife, Joan, pledged $50
million to our School in 2007. This Septem-
ber, we become the UNC Gillings School
of Global Public Health. Neither Dennis
nor Joan are profiled in this issue, because
we plan stories on them in the fall issue of
the magazine. But we would miss a great
opportunity if we didn’t highlight Dennis’
leadership example here.
Dr. Bill Sollecito, director of the School’s
Public Health Leadership Program since
1997, says he learned important leadership
qualities from Gillings. Sollecito was a bio-
statistics student of Gillings while earning
his DrPH at the School. Later, from 1982 to
1996, he worked for Gillings at Quintiles,
ultimately as president of Quintiles Ameri-
cas, where he was responsible for clinical
operations in Canada, South America and
the United States.
“Leadership starts with a vision, a view
of where your organization should go,” Sol-
lecito says. “All great leaders have the ability
to envision the future and set out a path for
all to embrace — this is the most important
thing I learned from Dennis Gillings. It’s not
good enough to have vision — you must be
able to communicate it and get agreement
and buy-in from all for a shared goal. Or as
W. Edwards Deming describes it, there must
be ‘constancy of purpose’ in the organiza-
tion to achieve vision.”
Sollecito says he learned another im-
portant characteristic of leadership from
Gillings — both in his classroom and as part
of his leadership team. “One of the ways
you empower people is to train new leaders.
This is especially true in a university where
our faculty are leaders and mentors of other
leaders at every interface — through the
classroom to the lab and most importantly,
through everyday interactions. That is how
I learned leadership from Dennis Gillings.
The key is interchange of ideas — not top
down, but through exchange, debate and
collaborative learning.”A fundamental strategy by which Carolina’s School of Public Health creates sustainable,
positive changes in public health is by educating the next generation of public health leaders. When it was suggested that we devote an issue of Carolina Public Health magazine to “leadership,” we were enthusiastic.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,
you are a leader.
8
inspire
dreamempower
envision
encouragenegotiate
collaboratecommunicate
features & news
listen
Public Health Leaders
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 5
goals
pace
example
Setting the
Setting the
Setting the
4 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Then came the first challenge — how to de-
fine “leadership” for the issue. The spectrum
of possibilities seemed endless.
We looked at programs at our School with
“leadership” in their names — Public Health
Leadership Program, Executive Doctoral
Program in Health Leadership, Emerging
Leaders in Public Health….
These are all wonderful programs that
have produced or enhanced the careers of
many of our public health leaders. But every
department and every program at our School
has “developing leadership” as a principal
foundation of its very existence. We train
leaders. So we asked each department in the
School to nominate graduates who have be-
come outstanding leaders. The response was
astronomical. We were inundated with fabu-
lous examples of “public health leaders” at
different levels, disciplines and career stages.
We didn’t have room in one magazine
to cover them all. So, taking a deep breath,
an editorial board of School representa-
tives selected the people profiled here. This
sample of profiles is not intended, by any
means, to be a complete or definitive list.
Leadership profiles will be a regular feature
in the magazine. Please send us suggestions!
The work of our graduates and faculty is
inspiring, indeed. By communicating their
stories of leadership, we want to share
“best practices” and provide opportu-
nities for others in the field to make
connections.
What makes a leader?John Quincy Adams once said, “If
your actions inspire others to dream
more, learn more, do more and
become more, you are a leader.”
As we began our profiles for this
issue, certain ideas kept resurfac-
ing: make sustainable changes; create
vision and inspire people; help people
help themselves; build bridges; listen to
people, then listen some more; compro-
mise; negotiate…. Here’s more of what our
alumni shared about leadership:
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson, assistant
surgeon general and rear admiral in
the Commissioned Corps of the U.S.
Public Health Service, holds a monthly
“Chat and Chew” luncheon to listen to
employees of the HIV/AIDS bureau she
oversees. “If you’re a leader, you listen to
employees and try to treat them like they
want to be treated,” she says. (See page
12.)
A colleague says that Dare County
Health Director Anne Thomas “commu-
nicates honestly and directly what others
are afraid to say, and she is heard because
she seeks to understand and solve, not
judge or blame.” (See page 40.)
Water specialist Greg Allgood learned
from his mentor and boss, Procter &
Gamble CEO John Pepper, that, “To be
a great leader, you have to be willing to
serve.” (See page 24.)
Leadership starts with visionOne of the foremost leaders associated with
our School is former biostatistics professor Dr.
Dennis Gillings, chairman and chief executive
officer of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and
chair of the School’s Advisory Council.
Gillings, CBE (Commander of the Brit-
ish Empire), and his wife, Joan, pledged $50
million to our School in 2007. This Septem-
ber, we become the UNC Gillings School
of Global Public Health. Neither Dennis
nor Joan are profiled in this issue, because
we plan stories on them in the fall issue of
the magazine. But we would miss a great
opportunity if we didn’t highlight Dennis’
leadership example here.
Dr. Bill Sollecito, director of the School’s
Public Health Leadership Program since
1997, says he learned important leadership
qualities from Gillings. Sollecito was a bio-
statistics student of Gillings while earning
his DrPH at the School. Later, from 1982 to
1996, he worked for Gillings at Quintiles,
ultimately as president of Quintiles Ameri-
cas, where he was responsible for clinical
operations in Canada, South America and
the United States.
“Leadership starts with a vision, a view
of where your organization should go,” Sol-
lecito says. “All great leaders have the ability
to envision the future and set out a path for
all to embrace — this is the most important
thing I learned from Dennis Gillings. It’s not
good enough to have vision — you must be
able to communicate it and get agreement
and buy-in from all for a shared goal. Or as
W. Edwards Deming describes it, there must
be ‘constancy of purpose’ in the organiza-
tion to achieve vision.”
Sollecito says he learned another im-
portant characteristic of leadership from
Gillings — both in his classroom and as part
of his leadership team. “One of the ways
you empower people is to train new leaders.
This is especially true in a university where
our faculty are leaders and mentors of other
leaders at every interface — through the
classroom to the lab and most importantly,
through everyday interactions. That is how
I learned leadership from Dennis Gillings.
The key is interchange of ideas — not top
down, but through exchange, debate and
collaborative learning.”A fundamental strategy by which Carolina’s School of Public Health creates sustainable,
positive changes in public health is by educating the next generation of public health leaders. When it was suggested that we devote an issue of Carolina Public Health magazine to “leadership,” we were enthusiastic.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,
you are a leader.
8
inspire
dreamempower
envision
encouragenegotiate
collaboratecommunicate
features & news
listen
Public Health Leaders
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 5
goals
pace
example
Setting the
Setting the
Setting the
features & news
6 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
management, and analysis and systems, and culminates in the development and presentation of an integrated business plan. Both programs are part of the School’s Department of Health Policy and administration. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/hpaa/executive_ masters_programs.html.
emerging leaders in public health (elph): This collaboration of the UNC School of Public Health’s North Carolina institute for Public Health and the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School provides leadership and management training to minority health professionals. Participants are selected for an intensive nine-month program focused on managing in times of crisis. Because racial and ethnic health disparities are best addressed when communities identify with policy- and decision-makers, the program seeks to strengthen the outreach capability of health systems by preparing leaders who can work with diverse communities. The program is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information, visit www.publichealthleaders.org.
public health leadership program (phlp): The Public Health Leadership Pro-gram prepares public health practitioners to assume greater leadership responsibili-ties and, in particular, to meet leadership challenges wherever they occur throughout the world. Through certificates and gradu-ate degrees offered in both residential and distance learning formats, the program brings an interdisciplinary approach to the development of population-level knowl-edge and skills. PHLP offers a Public Health Leadership Certificate, an Occupational Health Nursing certificate, a master of Public Health degree in three concentration areas and a master of Science degree in public health/occupational health nursing. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/phlp.
southeast public health leadership institute (sephli): SePHLi is a year-long leadership development program for mid- to senior-level public health administrators working in North Carolina, arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Vir-ginia. The institute supports the strength-ening of leadership competencies, such as creating a shared vision, personal aware-ness, systems thinking, risk communication, team building, ethical decision making and political and social change strategies. Scholars interact with local and national leaders during retreats, phone conferences and online computer discussion forums. The program is part of the North Carolina institute for Public Health. For more infor-mation, visit www.sephli.org.
Management academy for public health (Maph): maPH is a nine-month executive education course customized for health managers in the public health system. Teams learn skills in managing people, money, data and partners. To practice their skills and improve their orga-nizations, maPH students work in teams to develop a business plan. Courses are taught by faculty from the UNC School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Busi-ness School. The program is administered through the North Carolina institute for Public Health. For more information, visit www.maph.unc.edu.
national public health leadership institute: The institute focuses on strengthening the leadership competencies of senior-level decision makers who lead major public or private health organiza-tions. Faculty and staff engage leaders in teams from around the United States in individual and organization change efforts. The institute strives to assure that officials efficiently and effectively respond to challenges in the twenty-first century. The program is based at the North Carolina institute for Public Health — the service arm of the UNC School of Public Health —
in partnership with the Center for Health Leadership and Practice, a center of the Public Health institute in Oakland Calif., and the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro N.C. For more information, visit www.phli.org.
Management and supervision for public health nurse supervisors and Directors: This three-week course, begun in 1961, provides leadership growth op-portunities for nurses — the largest group of public health workers in North Carolina. The event is held at GlaxoSmithKline in research Triangle Park, N.C. Course faculty include representatives from the UNC School of Public Health’s Office of Continu-ing education; UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government; North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Public Health Nursing and Professional Development; and local public health leaders and private consultants. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/oce/nurse_managers.html.
Fast tracK leadership Development program: FaST TraCK Leadership is a three-and-a-half day intensive leader-ship development program that focuses on leadership and management skills for individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including public health, academia, government and business. The program is designed to significantly expand self awareness and quickly build practical skills for effectively leading and manag-ing people. Facilitated by faculty from the UNC School of Public Health, the program teaches how to create the kind of organi-zational culture that engages and moti-vates employees. Six of the most respected psychological assessment tools form the foundation of the program. Personalized executive coaching and expert facilitation guide each participant’s individual devel-opment plan. For more information, visit www.FastTrackLeadership.org.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
executive Doctoral program in health leadership (Drph program): UNC’s Doctoral Program in Health Leadership —the world’s first distance DrPH program —prepares mid-career professionals for senior-level positions in organizations working domestically and internationally to improve the public’s health. The three-year, cohort-based distance program targets individuals working full-time with substantial leadership responsibilities in communities, organizations and institutions. With the exception of three short visits to Chapel Hill in each of years one and two, learning takes place in participants’ homes and offices, away from the UNC campus. Students connect to faculty and peers mainly via computer, making substantial use of technology that allows students and faculty to share data and interact productively via live video and audio. The distance
format allows working professionals to complete doctoral leadership training while continuing full-time employment, remaining in-country throughout the duration of their education. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/hpaa/executive_drph.
executive Master’s programs: The UNC School of Public Health’s execu-tive master’s Programs are consistently ranked among the top in the country. The School’s executive master of Healthcare administration (mHa) is aimed at work-ing, mid-career professionals seeking senior executive positions in health care while the executive master of Public Health (mPH) is geared toward working professionals pursuing top-level executive positions in public health. The curriculum for both programs emphasizes public health, financial management, general
W hile every academic program at our school
embraces leadership development as a
principal foundation, several special programs provide
specific opportunities for leadership growth. some
offer distance education opportunities for working
public health professionals. others prepare mid-career
professionals for senior-level positions. below are
highlights of some of these programs.
Leading the WaySchool programs focus on creating
leadership opportunities for working public health professionals
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 7
Training leaders“If I have seen farther than others, it is by
standing on the shoulders of giants,” said Sir
Isaac Newton.
Many of the inspiring public health lead-
ers profiled in this issue laud the professors
who coached, coaxed and challenged them
through their coursework and into their
careers. Professors like the late Al Tyroler,
who helped students like Robert Verhalen
carve new fields of study. (See page 22.)
And professors like John Hatch, who taught
students like Fiorella Horna-Guerra, “Don’t
just ask people what they need. Let’s change
the question. Ask them what their dreams
are.” (See page 41.)
Within the next four years, more than
250,000 additional public health workers will
be needed in the United States to avert a pub-
lic health crisis, according to an assessment
released this spring by the Association of
Schools of Public Health (see www.asph.org/
shortage). This startling statistic makes our
work training leaders even more important.
“We know that there will always be a short-
age of well-trained and highly effective leaders
in public health nationally and throughout
the world,” says Dr. Edward Baker, director
of the North Carolina Institute for Public
Health, the School’s service arm. “We know
that many top leaders are nearing retire-
ment, and limited attention has been paid
to organized approaches to developing the
leaders of the future through well-resourced
succession planning and career development
programs. Our School is uniquely positioned
to replenish the diminishing ranks of public
health leadership in North Carolina, the U.S.
and the world in light of our strong record of
tailoring our programs to meet the needs of
the health field.”
continued on page 44
8
influence
challengemotivate
features & news
6 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
management, and analysis and systems, and culminates in the development and presentation of an integrated business plan. Both programs are part of the School’s Department of Health Policy and administration. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/hpaa/executive_ masters_programs.html.
emerging leaders in public health (elph): This collaboration of the UNC School of Public Health’s North Carolina institute for Public Health and the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School provides leadership and management training to minority health professionals. Participants are selected for an intensive nine-month program focused on managing in times of crisis. Because racial and ethnic health disparities are best addressed when communities identify with policy- and decision-makers, the program seeks to strengthen the outreach capability of health systems by preparing leaders who can work with diverse communities. The program is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information, visit www.publichealthleaders.org.
public health leadership program (phlp): The Public Health Leadership Pro-gram prepares public health practitioners to assume greater leadership responsibili-ties and, in particular, to meet leadership challenges wherever they occur throughout the world. Through certificates and gradu-ate degrees offered in both residential and distance learning formats, the program brings an interdisciplinary approach to the development of population-level knowl-edge and skills. PHLP offers a Public Health Leadership Certificate, an Occupational Health Nursing certificate, a master of Public Health degree in three concentration areas and a master of Science degree in public health/occupational health nursing. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/phlp.
southeast public health leadership institute (sephli): SePHLi is a year-long leadership development program for mid- to senior-level public health administrators working in North Carolina, arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Vir-ginia. The institute supports the strength-ening of leadership competencies, such as creating a shared vision, personal aware-ness, systems thinking, risk communication, team building, ethical decision making and political and social change strategies. Scholars interact with local and national leaders during retreats, phone conferences and online computer discussion forums. The program is part of the North Carolina institute for Public Health. For more infor-mation, visit www.sephli.org.
Management academy for public health (Maph): maPH is a nine-month executive education course customized for health managers in the public health system. Teams learn skills in managing people, money, data and partners. To practice their skills and improve their orga-nizations, maPH students work in teams to develop a business plan. Courses are taught by faculty from the UNC School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Busi-ness School. The program is administered through the North Carolina institute for Public Health. For more information, visit www.maph.unc.edu.
national public health leadership institute: The institute focuses on strengthening the leadership competencies of senior-level decision makers who lead major public or private health organiza-tions. Faculty and staff engage leaders in teams from around the United States in individual and organization change efforts. The institute strives to assure that officials efficiently and effectively respond to challenges in the twenty-first century. The program is based at the North Carolina institute for Public Health — the service arm of the UNC School of Public Health —
in partnership with the Center for Health Leadership and Practice, a center of the Public Health institute in Oakland Calif., and the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro N.C. For more information, visit www.phli.org.
Management and supervision for public health nurse supervisors and Directors: This three-week course, begun in 1961, provides leadership growth op-portunities for nurses — the largest group of public health workers in North Carolina. The event is held at GlaxoSmithKline in research Triangle Park, N.C. Course faculty include representatives from the UNC School of Public Health’s Office of Continu-ing education; UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government; North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Public Health Nursing and Professional Development; and local public health leaders and private consultants. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/oce/nurse_managers.html.
Fast tracK leadership Development program: FaST TraCK Leadership is a three-and-a-half day intensive leader-ship development program that focuses on leadership and management skills for individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including public health, academia, government and business. The program is designed to significantly expand self awareness and quickly build practical skills for effectively leading and manag-ing people. Facilitated by faculty from the UNC School of Public Health, the program teaches how to create the kind of organi-zational culture that engages and moti-vates employees. Six of the most respected psychological assessment tools form the foundation of the program. Personalized executive coaching and expert facilitation guide each participant’s individual devel-opment plan. For more information, visit www.FastTrackLeadership.org.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
executive Doctoral program in health leadership (Drph program): UNC’s Doctoral Program in Health Leadership —the world’s first distance DrPH program —prepares mid-career professionals for senior-level positions in organizations working domestically and internationally to improve the public’s health. The three-year, cohort-based distance program targets individuals working full-time with substantial leadership responsibilities in communities, organizations and institutions. With the exception of three short visits to Chapel Hill in each of years one and two, learning takes place in participants’ homes and offices, away from the UNC campus. Students connect to faculty and peers mainly via computer, making substantial use of technology that allows students and faculty to share data and interact productively via live video and audio. The distance
format allows working professionals to complete doctoral leadership training while continuing full-time employment, remaining in-country throughout the duration of their education. For more information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/hpaa/executive_drph.
executive Master’s programs: The UNC School of Public Health’s execu-tive master’s Programs are consistently ranked among the top in the country. The School’s executive master of Healthcare administration (mHa) is aimed at work-ing, mid-career professionals seeking senior executive positions in health care while the executive master of Public Health (mPH) is geared toward working professionals pursuing top-level executive positions in public health. The curriculum for both programs emphasizes public health, financial management, general
W hile every academic program at our school
embraces leadership development as a
principal foundation, several special programs provide
specific opportunities for leadership growth. some
offer distance education opportunities for working
public health professionals. others prepare mid-career
professionals for senior-level positions. below are
highlights of some of these programs.
Leading the WaySchool programs focus on creating
leadership opportunities for working public health professionals
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 7
Training leaders“If I have seen farther than others, it is by
standing on the shoulders of giants,” said Sir
Isaac Newton.
Many of the inspiring public health lead-
ers profiled in this issue laud the professors
who coached, coaxed and challenged them
through their coursework and into their
careers. Professors like the late Al Tyroler,
who helped students like Robert Verhalen
carve new fields of study. (See page 22.)
And professors like John Hatch, who taught
students like Fiorella Horna-Guerra, “Don’t
just ask people what they need. Let’s change
the question. Ask them what their dreams
are.” (See page 41.)
Within the next four years, more than
250,000 additional public health workers will
be needed in the United States to avert a pub-
lic health crisis, according to an assessment
released this spring by the Association of
Schools of Public Health (see www.asph.org/
shortage). This startling statistic makes our
work training leaders even more important.
“We know that there will always be a short-
age of well-trained and highly effective leaders
in public health nationally and throughout
the world,” says Dr. Edward Baker, director
of the North Carolina Institute for Public
Health, the School’s service arm. “We know
that many top leaders are nearing retire-
ment, and limited attention has been paid
to organized approaches to developing the
leaders of the future through well-resourced
succession planning and career development
programs. Our School is uniquely positioned
to replenish the diminishing ranks of public
health leadership in North Carolina, the U.S.
and the world in light of our strong record of
tailoring our programs to meet the needs of
the health field.”
continued on page 44
8
influence
challengemotivate
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 9
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : s a r a H m o r r o W
training hastened along because there was a
war on. She earned her Bachelor of Science
in medicine at UNC in 1942 and graduated
from the University of Maryland’s medical
school two years later.
“The schooling and conditioning that
makes a good doctor gives a sense of inde-
pendence and security and confidence in
oneself,” she says. She would need that con-
fidence in the personal challenges ahead.
She married a medical school classmate and
eventually moved with him to South Carolina.
When he was called back to the Navy during
the Korean War, she took a job leading the
Chester, S.C., health department. She had four
children by then and was expecting another.
“While he was gone, I ran the health de-
partment, built a house and had a baby,” she
says. When her husband came back, they had
another child. By then it became clear he had
mental health problems so severe that she
would have to be the sole breadwinner. In
1959, she came to Chapel Hill to complete a
master’s degree at the UNC School of Public
Health and refresh her pediatric skills.
Her husband by then required residential
psychiatric care. With the help of the fam-
ily’s longtime housekeeper, Morrow raised
her children while taking increasing respon-
sibility as a public health leader. She used
some of the same skills in both roles.
“When you have six children, all with dif-
ferent personalities, you learn to compromise
and negotiate,” she says. “I think that is one
of the essentials in leadership. When you deal
with people who have different ideas than you
do, it’s so important to be able to see their side
and be able to compromise and negotiate.”
By the time she joined Hunt’s cabinet,
that ability was second nature. “It was always
a challenge to determine where (resources
were) most badly needed,” she says. “I had to
work that out with our General Assembly. The
representatives were looking out for the needs
of their own counties, and you had to balance
that against the needs of the whole state.”
Access to health care for North Carolina’s
infants and children improved dramatically
during Morrow’s years as secretary, and
decades later there is abundant evidence
of her personal and professional impact on
public health in the state. Morrow retired
in 2005 at the age of 84 after twenty years as
medical director for Electronic Data Systems.
She remains an active volunteer for North
Carolina Citizens for Public Health, a non-
profit organization dedicated to promoting
citizen involvement in public health issues.
Several of her children went on to their own
careers in public health. Son John earned a
master’s in nutrition from Carolina’s School
of Public Health in 1983 and is now director
of the Pitt County (N.C.) Health Department.
Daughter Lynne Perrin recently retired from
the Division of Medical Assistance in the N.C.
Department of Health and Human Services
and now consults with a hospital in Charlotte,
N.C. Another son, Paul, works in the ad-
ministrative side of public health as a budget
officer with the N.C. Department of Health
and Human Services. And one of Morrow’s
thirteen grandchildren, Sarah Lacy Dean,
21, now lives with “Granny Doc” while she
pursues a pre-med curriculum at Carolina. n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
She fulfilled that intention many times over,
as a pediatrician, as a mother who raised six
children by herself, and especially as a pio-
neering public health leader. At the Guilford
County Department of Public Health from
1960 through 1976, and then as secretary
of North Carolina’s Department of Human
Resources until 1984, Sarah Morrow made
reducing the child mortality rate one of her
top priorities.
W hen Sarah Morrow (then Sarah Taylor) was five years old, she went with her physician
father to see a premature baby he had delivered. When the mother came out holding the tiny infant in one hand, the little girl thought, “That’s what I want to do, take care of babies.”
When you deal with people who have different ideas than you do, it’s so important
to be able to see their side and be able to compromise and negotiate.
Dr. Sarah morrow served as secretary of what is now North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services from 1976 through 1984. She was the first woman to lead the department. morrow (right) points to a photo of her 1942 University of maryland medical school class. She earned a master’s of public health from Carolina’s School of Public Health in 1959.
Dr. Sarah morrow
Relying on herself,Looking Out
for the children“She had one of the first, if not the first,
very large scale programs for dealing with
children who did not have adequate access
to care,” says Dr. Ron Levine, who was with
the state health department when Morrow
established the Child and Youth Program
in Guilford County. “It was the early days of
Medicaid, and the financing was available
but the services were not there. She took the
rather bold step of saying, ‘We’re a provider.
While our focus is on good health and the
prevention of disease, it’s appropriate when
all else fails to become intimately involved
with services.’ She got a huge grant from the
federal government to provide everything
that a child on the private side could expect
from their pediatrician — immunizations,
preschool screening, the whole spectrum
of care.”
Because of this and other innovations, the
Guilford County health department under
Morrow’s direction was regarded as one of
the best in the nation. Still, she was surprised
when then-Governor James B. Hunt Jr.,
asked her to join his cabinet as secretary of
what is now the Department of Health and
Human Services. In fact, at first she said no.
She’d have to take a salary cut, and she still
had one son living at home in Greensboro.
Hunt asked again, and she declined again.
Then he asked a third time.
This time Morrow accepted, and became
the first woman to lead the department, just
as she’d been Guilford County’s first woman
health director. She took the challenge in
stride, having long depended on herself
both personally and professionally. She had
become a doctor at the ripe old age of 23, her
features & news
8 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 9
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : s a r a H m o r r o W
training hastened along because there was a
war on. She earned her Bachelor of Science
in medicine at UNC in 1942 and graduated
from the University of Maryland’s medical
school two years later.
“The schooling and conditioning that
makes a good doctor gives a sense of inde-
pendence and security and confidence in
oneself,” she says. She would need that con-
fidence in the personal challenges ahead.
She married a medical school classmate and
eventually moved with him to South Carolina.
When he was called back to the Navy during
the Korean War, she took a job leading the
Chester, S.C., health department. She had four
children by then and was expecting another.
“While he was gone, I ran the health de-
partment, built a house and had a baby,” she
says. When her husband came back, they had
another child. By then it became clear he had
mental health problems so severe that she
would have to be the sole breadwinner. In
1959, she came to Chapel Hill to complete a
master’s degree at the UNC School of Public
Health and refresh her pediatric skills.
Her husband by then required residential
psychiatric care. With the help of the fam-
ily’s longtime housekeeper, Morrow raised
her children while taking increasing respon-
sibility as a public health leader. She used
some of the same skills in both roles.
“When you have six children, all with dif-
ferent personalities, you learn to compromise
and negotiate,” she says. “I think that is one
of the essentials in leadership. When you deal
with people who have different ideas than you
do, it’s so important to be able to see their side
and be able to compromise and negotiate.”
By the time she joined Hunt’s cabinet,
that ability was second nature. “It was always
a challenge to determine where (resources
were) most badly needed,” she says. “I had to
work that out with our General Assembly. The
representatives were looking out for the needs
of their own counties, and you had to balance
that against the needs of the whole state.”
Access to health care for North Carolina’s
infants and children improved dramatically
during Morrow’s years as secretary, and
decades later there is abundant evidence
of her personal and professional impact on
public health in the state. Morrow retired
in 2005 at the age of 84 after twenty years as
medical director for Electronic Data Systems.
She remains an active volunteer for North
Carolina Citizens for Public Health, a non-
profit organization dedicated to promoting
citizen involvement in public health issues.
Several of her children went on to their own
careers in public health. Son John earned a
master’s in nutrition from Carolina’s School
of Public Health in 1983 and is now director
of the Pitt County (N.C.) Health Department.
Daughter Lynne Perrin recently retired from
the Division of Medical Assistance in the N.C.
Department of Health and Human Services
and now consults with a hospital in Charlotte,
N.C. Another son, Paul, works in the ad-
ministrative side of public health as a budget
officer with the N.C. Department of Health
and Human Services. And one of Morrow’s
thirteen grandchildren, Sarah Lacy Dean,
21, now lives with “Granny Doc” while she
pursues a pre-med curriculum at Carolina. n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
She fulfilled that intention many times over,
as a pediatrician, as a mother who raised six
children by herself, and especially as a pio-
neering public health leader. At the Guilford
County Department of Public Health from
1960 through 1976, and then as secretary
of North Carolina’s Department of Human
Resources until 1984, Sarah Morrow made
reducing the child mortality rate one of her
top priorities.
W hen Sarah Morrow (then Sarah Taylor) was five years old, she went with her physician
father to see a premature baby he had delivered. When the mother came out holding the tiny infant in one hand, the little girl thought, “That’s what I want to do, take care of babies.”
When you deal with people who have different ideas than you do, it’s so important
to be able to see their side and be able to compromise and negotiate.
Dr. Sarah morrow served as secretary of what is now North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services from 1976 through 1984. She was the first woman to lead the department. morrow (right) points to a photo of her 1942 University of maryland medical school class. She earned a master’s of public health from Carolina’s School of Public Health in 1959.
Dr. Sarah morrow
Relying on herself,Looking Out
for the children“She had one of the first, if not the first,
very large scale programs for dealing with
children who did not have adequate access
to care,” says Dr. Ron Levine, who was with
the state health department when Morrow
established the Child and Youth Program
in Guilford County. “It was the early days of
Medicaid, and the financing was available
but the services were not there. She took the
rather bold step of saying, ‘We’re a provider.
While our focus is on good health and the
prevention of disease, it’s appropriate when
all else fails to become intimately involved
with services.’ She got a huge grant from the
federal government to provide everything
that a child on the private side could expect
from their pediatrician — immunizations,
preschool screening, the whole spectrum
of care.”
Because of this and other innovations, the
Guilford County health department under
Morrow’s direction was regarded as one of
the best in the nation. Still, she was surprised
when then-Governor James B. Hunt Jr.,
asked her to join his cabinet as secretary of
what is now the Department of Health and
Human Services. In fact, at first she said no.
She’d have to take a salary cut, and she still
had one son living at home in Greensboro.
Hunt asked again, and she declined again.
Then he asked a third time.
This time Morrow accepted, and became
the first woman to lead the department, just
as she’d been Guilford County’s first woman
health director. She took the challenge in
stride, having long depended on herself
both personally and professionally. She had
become a doctor at the ripe old age of 23, her
features & news
8 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
features & news
10 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
“I just want to let you know that we have — ”
he began.
“Pulmonary anthrax,” Devlin finished
for him. The CDC had already notified her
that a Florida man being treated for the rare,
deadly disease had been traveling in North
Carolina just before he became ill.
Though the source of the man’s disease
would later be traced to anthrax spores sent
through the postal system to his Florida
office, no one knew that then. Likewise, no
one knew — though many feared — that his
illness signaled a bioterrorist attack.
“That was the day public health in North
Carolina changed forever,” Devlin says. “We
started right then with a massive investiga-
tion, trying to determine the source of his
exposure and whether anybody else was sick.”
Devlin led an effort involving 19 hospitals,
multiple counties and thousands of medical
records. It called on the expertise of microbi-
ologists, epidemiologists, medical examiners,
veterinarians and many other specialists,
including law enforcement agents.
“The fact that Public Health knew about
this before the FBI gave us instant credibil-
ity and made us worthy of collaboration,”
Devlin says. “We had the FBI and SBI on
every conference call we had. They were
participating in public health work even as
they did their own investigations.”
The incident demonstrated to legislators
and the public that health departments play
a critical role in defending against bioter-
rorism and other threats. It also served as a
fire drill for the agencies themselves. Under
Devlin’s leadership, her team analyzed what
worked well and what didn’t and put plans in
place to ensure that the departments would
respond to future incidents — like the subse-
quent West Nile virus outbreak — even more
efficiently and effectively. They also built
on something that started that October day,
what Devlin calls a “fabulous partnership
with law enforcement.”
As a result, North Carolina now stands as
a national model of preparedness for public
health emergencies, whether bioterrorism,
emerging infectious disease or natural di-
saster. The accomplishment is particularly
striking in light of the fact that when Devlin
was confronted with the anthrax case, she
had been directing the state health depart-
ment for only a few months.
Devlin says she didn’t even know what a
health department was until she was a ju-
nior in UNC’s School of Dentistry and did
day that changedNorth Carolina
public health
She is extremely well respected across the country as well as in Congress and in the
[Federal] administration.
The
It was October 4, 2001, and State Health Director Leah M. Devlin and other officials
were in a homeland security meeting. The FBI agent assigned to North Carolina left the room to take a phone call. During the next break, he took Devlin and the head of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) aside.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l e a H d e v l i n
a rotation with the Wake County Health
Department through the N.C. Area Health
Education Centers Program (AHEC). Once
she graduated, she went to work for the
county as a dentist and later moved into
dental public health administration there.
By the time she was asked to serve as the
county’s acting health director, a position
that later became permanent, she had earned
her master’s in public health, one of the
first completed through the UNC School of
Public Health’s distance learning program.
After ten years as Wake County health direc-
tor, she moved to the state Division of Public
Health as deputy director; five years later,
she began serving as state health director
and director of the Division.
“She is extremely well respected across
the country as well as in Congress and in
the [Federal] administration,” says Dr. Paul
E. Jarris, executive director of the Associa-
tion of State and Territorial Health Officers,
an organization for which Devlin recently
served as president. “When a national group
or think tank is being put together, people
often want Leah.”
On Devlin’s watch, North Carolina also
became the first — and so far the only — state
to mandate accreditation for local health de-
partments and so make quality and capacity
consistent across the state. Her department
works closely with the School’s North Caro-
lina Institute for Public Health, which is the
state accreditation administrator.
“There is now a national movement to do
this in the rest of the country,” says Dr. Ron
Levine, himself a former state health direc-
tor and a longtime mentor. “She is clearly the
lead person on that.”
Devlin is such a successful leader, Levine
says, because she has the ability to bring
together diverse interests. Jarris credits her
quick grasp of complex issues and her abil-
ity to be at once very pleasant and extremely
direct. In a meeting with federal Secretary of
Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt,
for instance, Devlin commented that some-
thing was “just nonsense.”
“He stopped, looked at her and wanted
to talk with her because people in his posi-
tion rarely hear that,” Jarris says. “She has
a wonderful ability to say those things in a
nice way.”
Devlin credits her colleagues in North
Carolina’s Division of Public Health for the
state’s national reputation as an innovator in
public health.
“If I have a strength, it’s being able to find
good people to work with,” she says. “That’s
my biggest strength.” n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 11
Under the leadership of State Health Director Leah Devlin, North Carolina became the first — and so far the only — state to mandate accreditation for local health departments and so make quality and capacity consistent across the state. Devlin earned a master’s in public health administration from the UNC School of Public Health and a doctor of dental surgery from the UNC Dental School.
Dr. Leah Devlin
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
features & news
10 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
“I just want to let you know that we have — ”
he began.
“Pulmonary anthrax,” Devlin finished
for him. The CDC had already notified her
that a Florida man being treated for the rare,
deadly disease had been traveling in North
Carolina just before he became ill.
Though the source of the man’s disease
would later be traced to anthrax spores sent
through the postal system to his Florida
office, no one knew that then. Likewise, no
one knew — though many feared — that his
illness signaled a bioterrorist attack.
“That was the day public health in North
Carolina changed forever,” Devlin says. “We
started right then with a massive investiga-
tion, trying to determine the source of his
exposure and whether anybody else was sick.”
Devlin led an effort involving 19 hospitals,
multiple counties and thousands of medical
records. It called on the expertise of microbi-
ologists, epidemiologists, medical examiners,
veterinarians and many other specialists,
including law enforcement agents.
“The fact that Public Health knew about
this before the FBI gave us instant credibil-
ity and made us worthy of collaboration,”
Devlin says. “We had the FBI and SBI on
every conference call we had. They were
participating in public health work even as
they did their own investigations.”
The incident demonstrated to legislators
and the public that health departments play
a critical role in defending against bioter-
rorism and other threats. It also served as a
fire drill for the agencies themselves. Under
Devlin’s leadership, her team analyzed what
worked well and what didn’t and put plans in
place to ensure that the departments would
respond to future incidents — like the subse-
quent West Nile virus outbreak — even more
efficiently and effectively. They also built
on something that started that October day,
what Devlin calls a “fabulous partnership
with law enforcement.”
As a result, North Carolina now stands as
a national model of preparedness for public
health emergencies, whether bioterrorism,
emerging infectious disease or natural di-
saster. The accomplishment is particularly
striking in light of the fact that when Devlin
was confronted with the anthrax case, she
had been directing the state health depart-
ment for only a few months.
Devlin says she didn’t even know what a
health department was until she was a ju-
nior in UNC’s School of Dentistry and did
day that changedNorth Carolina
public health
She is extremely well respected across the country as well as in Congress and in the
[Federal] administration.
The
It was October 4, 2001, and State Health Director Leah M. Devlin and other officials
were in a homeland security meeting. The FBI agent assigned to North Carolina left the room to take a phone call. During the next break, he took Devlin and the head of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) aside.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l e a H d e v l i n
a rotation with the Wake County Health
Department through the N.C. Area Health
Education Centers Program (AHEC). Once
she graduated, she went to work for the
county as a dentist and later moved into
dental public health administration there.
By the time she was asked to serve as the
county’s acting health director, a position
that later became permanent, she had earned
her master’s in public health, one of the
first completed through the UNC School of
Public Health’s distance learning program.
After ten years as Wake County health direc-
tor, she moved to the state Division of Public
Health as deputy director; five years later,
she began serving as state health director
and director of the Division.
“She is extremely well respected across
the country as well as in Congress and in
the [Federal] administration,” says Dr. Paul
E. Jarris, executive director of the Associa-
tion of State and Territorial Health Officers,
an organization for which Devlin recently
served as president. “When a national group
or think tank is being put together, people
often want Leah.”
On Devlin’s watch, North Carolina also
became the first — and so far the only — state
to mandate accreditation for local health de-
partments and so make quality and capacity
consistent across the state. Her department
works closely with the School’s North Caro-
lina Institute for Public Health, which is the
state accreditation administrator.
“There is now a national movement to do
this in the rest of the country,” says Dr. Ron
Levine, himself a former state health direc-
tor and a longtime mentor. “She is clearly the
lead person on that.”
Devlin is such a successful leader, Levine
says, because she has the ability to bring
together diverse interests. Jarris credits her
quick grasp of complex issues and her abil-
ity to be at once very pleasant and extremely
direct. In a meeting with federal Secretary of
Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt,
for instance, Devlin commented that some-
thing was “just nonsense.”
“He stopped, looked at her and wanted
to talk with her because people in his posi-
tion rarely hear that,” Jarris says. “She has
a wonderful ability to say those things in a
nice way.”
Devlin credits her colleagues in North
Carolina’s Division of Public Health for the
state’s national reputation as an innovator in
public health.
“If I have a strength, it’s being able to find
good people to work with,” she says. “That’s
my biggest strength.” n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 11
Under the leadership of State Health Director Leah Devlin, North Carolina became the first — and so far the only — state to mandate accreditation for local health departments and so make quality and capacity consistent across the state. Devlin earned a master’s in public health administration from the UNC School of Public Health and a doctor of dental surgery from the UNC Dental School.
Dr. Leah Devlin
PH
OTO
By
Ka
THLe
eN K
ea
rN
S
At the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Deborah Parham
Hopson, associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau, is responsible for a $2 billion pro-gram with more than 100 employees that is very much in the public eye. But every month, she sits
After earning her master’s, Parham Hop-
son served as a presidential management
intern, during which she got her first expe-
rience with the U.S. Public Health Service,
working in the Bureau of Community
Health Services, placing nurses in under-
served areas. A few years later, she worked
her way back to the Commissioned Corps of
the Public Health Service, serving in several
positions, including chief nurse. “I was re-
sponsible for nurses and nurse practitioners.
When they ran into clinical issues out in the
field, I would work with them to help them
resolve those issues,” she says.
In her current position, she’s responsible
for managing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS
Program, which funds medical care, treat-
ment, referrals and support services for
uninsured and underserved people living
with HIV as well as training for health care
professionals. And, as part of the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, she directs
a multi-million dollar global HIV/AIDS pro-
gram with training, care and treatment ac-
tivities in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Parham Hopson has worked on the policy
side of the HIV and AIDs epidemic since
1994. Her introduction to the disease came
in the early 1990s, when she worked on a
project of the Coalition of 100 Black Women,
a volunteer service organization. The orga-
nization raised money for Grandma’s House,
a home for babies that had been born to
mothers living with AIDS. “That was in the
early 90s, when people didn’t quite know
how HIV was transmitted, and didn’t know
whether you might catch AIDS by holding
and loving these children,” Parham Hop-
son says. Just before that experience, she
had worked on her PhD at Carolina, where
discussions centered around HIV/AIDS as a
major epidemic. “But when I started work-
ing with babies, it became more than an in-
tellectual discussion. These were real people
living and dying with AIDS,” she says.
Because the Ryan White program was
written into law by Congress, Parham Hop-
son’s job involves managing not only money
and people, but also expectations. “Explain-
ing to people why we’re managing the pro-
gram the way we’re managing it is as critical
a part of the job as handing out medications
to people with HIV, because without the con-
gressional support there would be no money
for those programs,” she says. But Parham
Hopson loves this tough job that at times can
be a political minefield. “You have to pick
your route,” she says. “When you don’t know
which way to step, just do what’s right.”
Parham Hopson’s genuine sense of caring
can be a rarity in Washington, says Dr. Joseph
O’Neill, who supervised Parham Hopson
when he was director of the U.S. Health
Resources and Services Administration’s
HIV-AIDS Bureau and she was his deputy.
“The word that comes to mind is integrity
with a capital I,” O’Neill says. “That is not
something you find every day in Washington,
particularly at the high policy level at which
she lives. She’s got a very high level of personal
ethics. You don’t get anywhere in the political
life without having people disagree with you.
But I dare say even people who disagree with
her on substantive policy issues would never
question her integrity or motivation.” n
— B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Integrity with acapital I
nurses were expected to work for at least a
year in a hospital before going into public
health. At age 21, a year seemed like a long
time to her, so she decided to get into the field
through a master’s degree. Accepted at two
schools, she almost went to the one closer to
her Ohio home until she visited Carolina and
decided it was for her. “It was one of the best
decisions I ever made,” she says.
Even at that point in her career, Parham
Hopson knew she was good at leading
people and programs. “When I was first
working on my master’s in public health,
I thought I wanted to run a health center,
a little community clinic somewhere,” she
says. Then, for her required field training
for her master’s degree, she spent a summer
in Washington as a White House intern. “I
was there working in the White House in
the Office of the Special Assistant to the
President on Health Affairs. That gave me an
inkling of health policy at a very high level.
I realized I could help make the policies for
all the clinics and have a bigger impact, and
I liked that,” she says.
down for a lunchtime “Chat and Chew,”
where employees of the HIV/AIDS bureau —
from secretaries to program officers to
branch directors — can join her and share
their concerns.
“It’s just an opportunity for my staff to
get unfiltered information from the horse’s
mouth. This is a structured way to keep a
direct line of communication open,” says
Parham Hopson, who earned her master’s
and doctoral degrees in health policy and
administration from the UNC School of
Public Health.
The practice is characteristic of Parham
Hopson’s concern for her staff, says Idalia
Sanchez, who once reported indirectly to
Parham Hopson and is now senior policy
advisor for the National Center on Minority
Health and Health Disparities. “You may
not have all the things you need in terms
of resources, but if you know that you have
Dr. Parham Hopson’s ear and her support, it
makes a big difference,” Sanchez says.
Providing that support is part of Parham
Hopson’s definition of leadership. “If you’re
a leader, you listen to employees and try to
treat them like they want to be treated. You
have to listen to them to find out what makes
them tick and what makes them want to pro-
duce and to work for you,” she says.
The approach has worked for Parham
Hopson who rose to the rank of assistant
surgeon general and rear admiral in the
Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public
Health Service, making her the highest rank-
ing African-American woman in the Corps.
She’s also the first African-American nurse
to rise to that rank. Those are no small feats
in an organization in which promotions are
based on a yearly review of accomplishments,
and physicians often retire as captains.
Parham Hopson is a registered nurse
whose clinical experience is in neonatal in-
tensive care nursing. It was during a rotation
in nursing school that she discovered her
excitement for public health. In those days,
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson (far right) pauses for a photo with her Tanzanian counterparts during an april 2007 trip to Tanzania as part of the Council of Women World Leaders ministerial Fellows Program. Left to right: HrSa administrator Dr. Betty Duke; Sarah Parker of the Council of Women World Leaders; mwantumu mahiza; Joyce mapunjo; and Parham Hopson. Parham Hopson earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Carolina. She is assistant sur-geon general and rear admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, making her the highest ranking african-american in the Corps.
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson
PH
OTO
CO
Ur
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OF
OFF
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OF
HiV
/aiD
S P
OLi
Cy,
U.S
. D
ePa
rTm
eNT
OF
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H a
ND
HU
ma
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PH
OTO
CO
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OF
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. H
ea
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OU
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ND
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eS a
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You have to pick your route. When you don’t know which way to step, just do what’s right.
features & news P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : d e b o r a H P a r H a m H o P s o n
12 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 13
At the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Deborah Parham
Hopson, associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau, is responsible for a $2 billion pro-gram with more than 100 employees that is very much in the public eye. But every month, she sits
After earning her master’s, Parham Hop-
son served as a presidential management
intern, during which she got her first expe-
rience with the U.S. Public Health Service,
working in the Bureau of Community
Health Services, placing nurses in under-
served areas. A few years later, she worked
her way back to the Commissioned Corps of
the Public Health Service, serving in several
positions, including chief nurse. “I was re-
sponsible for nurses and nurse practitioners.
When they ran into clinical issues out in the
field, I would work with them to help them
resolve those issues,” she says.
In her current position, she’s responsible
for managing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS
Program, which funds medical care, treat-
ment, referrals and support services for
uninsured and underserved people living
with HIV as well as training for health care
professionals. And, as part of the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, she directs
a multi-million dollar global HIV/AIDS pro-
gram with training, care and treatment ac-
tivities in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Parham Hopson has worked on the policy
side of the HIV and AIDs epidemic since
1994. Her introduction to the disease came
in the early 1990s, when she worked on a
project of the Coalition of 100 Black Women,
a volunteer service organization. The orga-
nization raised money for Grandma’s House,
a home for babies that had been born to
mothers living with AIDS. “That was in the
early 90s, when people didn’t quite know
how HIV was transmitted, and didn’t know
whether you might catch AIDS by holding
and loving these children,” Parham Hop-
son says. Just before that experience, she
had worked on her PhD at Carolina, where
discussions centered around HIV/AIDS as a
major epidemic. “But when I started work-
ing with babies, it became more than an in-
tellectual discussion. These were real people
living and dying with AIDS,” she says.
Because the Ryan White program was
written into law by Congress, Parham Hop-
son’s job involves managing not only money
and people, but also expectations. “Explain-
ing to people why we’re managing the pro-
gram the way we’re managing it is as critical
a part of the job as handing out medications
to people with HIV, because without the con-
gressional support there would be no money
for those programs,” she says. But Parham
Hopson loves this tough job that at times can
be a political minefield. “You have to pick
your route,” she says. “When you don’t know
which way to step, just do what’s right.”
Parham Hopson’s genuine sense of caring
can be a rarity in Washington, says Dr. Joseph
O’Neill, who supervised Parham Hopson
when he was director of the U.S. Health
Resources and Services Administration’s
HIV-AIDS Bureau and she was his deputy.
“The word that comes to mind is integrity
with a capital I,” O’Neill says. “That is not
something you find every day in Washington,
particularly at the high policy level at which
she lives. She’s got a very high level of personal
ethics. You don’t get anywhere in the political
life without having people disagree with you.
But I dare say even people who disagree with
her on substantive policy issues would never
question her integrity or motivation.” n
— B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Integrity with acapital I
nurses were expected to work for at least a
year in a hospital before going into public
health. At age 21, a year seemed like a long
time to her, so she decided to get into the field
through a master’s degree. Accepted at two
schools, she almost went to the one closer to
her Ohio home until she visited Carolina and
decided it was for her. “It was one of the best
decisions I ever made,” she says.
Even at that point in her career, Parham
Hopson knew she was good at leading
people and programs. “When I was first
working on my master’s in public health,
I thought I wanted to run a health center,
a little community clinic somewhere,” she
says. Then, for her required field training
for her master’s degree, she spent a summer
in Washington as a White House intern. “I
was there working in the White House in
the Office of the Special Assistant to the
President on Health Affairs. That gave me an
inkling of health policy at a very high level.
I realized I could help make the policies for
all the clinics and have a bigger impact, and
I liked that,” she says.
down for a lunchtime “Chat and Chew,”
where employees of the HIV/AIDS bureau —
from secretaries to program officers to
branch directors — can join her and share
their concerns.
“It’s just an opportunity for my staff to
get unfiltered information from the horse’s
mouth. This is a structured way to keep a
direct line of communication open,” says
Parham Hopson, who earned her master’s
and doctoral degrees in health policy and
administration from the UNC School of
Public Health.
The practice is characteristic of Parham
Hopson’s concern for her staff, says Idalia
Sanchez, who once reported indirectly to
Parham Hopson and is now senior policy
advisor for the National Center on Minority
Health and Health Disparities. “You may
not have all the things you need in terms
of resources, but if you know that you have
Dr. Parham Hopson’s ear and her support, it
makes a big difference,” Sanchez says.
Providing that support is part of Parham
Hopson’s definition of leadership. “If you’re
a leader, you listen to employees and try to
treat them like they want to be treated. You
have to listen to them to find out what makes
them tick and what makes them want to pro-
duce and to work for you,” she says.
The approach has worked for Parham
Hopson who rose to the rank of assistant
surgeon general and rear admiral in the
Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public
Health Service, making her the highest rank-
ing African-American woman in the Corps.
She’s also the first African-American nurse
to rise to that rank. Those are no small feats
in an organization in which promotions are
based on a yearly review of accomplishments,
and physicians often retire as captains.
Parham Hopson is a registered nurse
whose clinical experience is in neonatal in-
tensive care nursing. It was during a rotation
in nursing school that she discovered her
excitement for public health. In those days,
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson (far right) pauses for a photo with her Tanzanian counterparts during an april 2007 trip to Tanzania as part of the Council of Women World Leaders ministerial Fellows Program. Left to right: HrSa administrator Dr. Betty Duke; Sarah Parker of the Council of Women World Leaders; mwantumu mahiza; Joyce mapunjo; and Parham Hopson. Parham Hopson earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Carolina. She is assistant sur-geon general and rear admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, making her the highest ranking african-american in the Corps.
Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson
PH
OTO
CO
Ur
TeSy
OF
OFF
iCe
OF
HiV
/aiD
S P
OLi
Cy,
U.S
. D
ePa
rTm
eNT
OF
He
aLT
H a
ND
HU
ma
N S
erV
iCeS
PH
OTO
CO
Ur
TeSy
OF
U.S
. H
ea
LTH
reS
OU
rC
eS a
ND
Ser
ViC
eS a
Dm
iNiS
Tra
TiO
N
You have to pick your route. When you don’t know which way to step, just do what’s right.
features & news P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : d e b o r a H P a r H a m H o P s o n
12 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 13
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 15
She’s not showing off the latest fashion
designs — she’s telling people how to get
life-saving medicines. As executive director
of the Patient Access Programs Foundation
for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline
(GSK), she is in charge of programs that
give away more than $1 million worth of
GSK drugs daily to uninsured, low-income
patients. GSK has run ads, featuring Sandy,
to let people know about the programs.
“I have the greatest job in the company,”
she says.
Moulton was one of the first UNC School
of Public Health students with a law degree.
In the 1970s, many women lawyers struggled
to reach partner — or even get jobs — in pri-
vate law firms, so Moulton took a different
tack.
“With so much emphasis on health pol-
icy, the combination of law and public health
degrees is common now,” she says, “but
when we started (she and two law school
classmates), it was quite unusual.”
As a staff attorney in the N.C. Depart-
ment of Human Resources in the 1980s, she
influenced the future of the state’s health
care policy by re-codifying public health
laws that hadn’t been revisited for half a
century or more.
In 1989, she went to work for Glaxo Inc.
(now GlaxoSmithKline). The company had
just pledged $5 million over five years to
help the state fight infant mortality. As part
of that program, Moulton and Marilyn
Foote-Hudson, director of what is now the
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation of North
Carolina, started the “Glaxo Child Health
Recognition Awards.” These honors have
been presented annually since 1994 to lo-
cal health departments, staff members and
individuals in the community who have
developed innovative programs to address
some aspect of child health. The idea was to
identify and share best practices.
Moulton has been leading
GSK’s patient assistance pro-
grams for more than 10 years.
She also is on the UNC School
of Public Health Foundation
Board, is a mentor in the School
and, with husband Dr. Thomas
Wong, is a scholarship donor
and funder of renovations to a
Rosenau Hall office.
“Many people at this school
have encouraged me through-
out my career,” she says. “It’s
wonderful to have opportuni-
ties to give back.” n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Moulton pairs law, public health expertise to influence health policy
Sandy Moulton haS gr aced the pageS of dozenS of
publicationS, including the new york tiMeS, waShington
poSt, newSweek, reader'S digeSt and Southern living.
Sandy moulton, executive director of GSK’s Patient access Programs Foundation, started her public health career at the N.C. Department of Human Services. One of her first projects was helping expand the state’s rabies vaccination requirements to include cats. after the bill passed, she remembers a legislator thanking her on behalf of his grandchildren, who adored kittens. moulton earned a master’s in public health from UNC and is vice president of the Public Health Foundation Board at the School.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l a m o n t b r y a n t
He chose to focus on pubic health, he says,
because that’s where he felt he could make
the biggest difference. “If you really think
about what drives us all, it’s not our fact
sheet or our budget sheet but our overall
health,” says Bryant, who got his PhD in
environmental sciences and engineering at
Carolina’s School of Public Health in 2000.
“Once you’ve lost your health, you’ve lost
it. It’s our most precious semi-renewable
resource, and I want to help manage it.”
Today, Bryant is manager of regulatory
affairs at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a
Johnson & Johnson company that develops
and markets advanced medical devices for
minimally invasive and open surgical pro-
cedures. Before that, he held several global
leadership positions at Procter & Gamble
(P&G), where he received many leadership
awards, including the Rising Star Award for
business contributions in 2005 and a Power
of You Recognition Award for “building the
organization” in 2007.
Dr. Ron Webb, retired manager of doc-
toral recruiting and university relations at
P&G, says Bryant’s tremendous presence
attracts people and makes him a natural
leader. “He draws you in with his smile and
strength — being a body builder helps! —
allowing you to comfortably take his lead,”
says Webb, who recruited Bryant to P&G in
2000. “He’s also willing to delegate work,
to mentor and train others. To me what
he does — taking on the responsibility of
a leader while at the same time nurturing
others — is the key aspect of outstanding
leadership.”
Webb adds that aside from being an out-
standing team player who easily motivates
people, Bryant is an excellent manager. “La-
Mont can quickly assess a problem, break it
down into multiple work components, then
make timely and concrete business deci-
sions,” says Webb.
Bryant, who’s managed some of the largest
consumer health care brands in the world,
credits much of his success to the intellectual
and collaborative learning environment at
Carolina and the breadth of courses he took
as a graduate student. He says that having a
doctoral degree from a highly regarded envi-
ronmental sciences and engineering program
helped him secure key leadership positions
in some of the most influential health care
companies in the world, but adds that it was
his actual experience within the doctoral pro-
gram that enabled him to excel in his career.
“Interacting with top-level students and
professors from various countries who came
to Chapel Hill for a common goal, engaging
in open dialogue with them, and generally
just being part of an environment that comes
up with solutions and fosters growth…there
are tons of ways UNC helped me build on skill
sets I possess,” says Bryant. “Being around
excellent people constantly inspires you to be
excellent in all things at all times.” n
— B y m a r G a r i T a D e P a N O
Competence
dr. p. laMont bryant likeS Making an iMpact on people’S
liveS. froM doMinating the field aS captain of the foot-
ball teaM at n.c. centr al univerSity, to conducting ground-
breaking reSearch aS a gr aduate Student working at the u.S.
environMental protection agency, to being the renowned
public health profeSSional he iS today, bryant iS a leader, diS-
penSing SolutionS and inSpir ation along the way.
Being around excellent people constantly inspires you to be excellent in all things at all times.
and Charisma
Dr. P. Lamont Bryant is manager of regulatory affairs at ethicon endo-Surgery, inc., a Johnson & Johnson company that develops and markets advanced medi-cal devices for minimally invasive and open surgical procedures. He earned his PhD in environmental sci-ences and engineering from Carolina in 2000.
Dr. P. Lamont Bryant
features & news P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : s a n d y m o u l t o n
14 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
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TeSy
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my
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OP
PH
OTO
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y r
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UB
OSe
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 15
She’s not showing off the latest fashion
designs — she’s telling people how to get
life-saving medicines. As executive director
of the Patient Access Programs Foundation
for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline
(GSK), she is in charge of programs that
give away more than $1 million worth of
GSK drugs daily to uninsured, low-income
patients. GSK has run ads, featuring Sandy,
to let people know about the programs.
“I have the greatest job in the company,”
she says.
Moulton was one of the first UNC School
of Public Health students with a law degree.
In the 1970s, many women lawyers struggled
to reach partner — or even get jobs — in pri-
vate law firms, so Moulton took a different
tack.
“With so much emphasis on health pol-
icy, the combination of law and public health
degrees is common now,” she says, “but
when we started (she and two law school
classmates), it was quite unusual.”
As a staff attorney in the N.C. Depart-
ment of Human Resources in the 1980s, she
influenced the future of the state’s health
care policy by re-codifying public health
laws that hadn’t been revisited for half a
century or more.
In 1989, she went to work for Glaxo Inc.
(now GlaxoSmithKline). The company had
just pledged $5 million over five years to
help the state fight infant mortality. As part
of that program, Moulton and Marilyn
Foote-Hudson, director of what is now the
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation of North
Carolina, started the “Glaxo Child Health
Recognition Awards.” These honors have
been presented annually since 1994 to lo-
cal health departments, staff members and
individuals in the community who have
developed innovative programs to address
some aspect of child health. The idea was to
identify and share best practices.
Moulton has been leading
GSK’s patient assistance pro-
grams for more than 10 years.
She also is on the UNC School
of Public Health Foundation
Board, is a mentor in the School
and, with husband Dr. Thomas
Wong, is a scholarship donor
and funder of renovations to a
Rosenau Hall office.
“Many people at this school
have encouraged me through-
out my career,” she says. “It’s
wonderful to have opportuni-
ties to give back.” n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Moulton pairs law, public health expertise to influence health policy
Sandy Moulton haS gr aced the pageS of dozenS of
publicationS, including the new york tiMeS, waShington
poSt, newSweek, reader'S digeSt and Southern living.
Sandy moulton, executive director of GSK’s Patient access Programs Foundation, started her public health career at the N.C. Department of Human Services. One of her first projects was helping expand the state’s rabies vaccination requirements to include cats. after the bill passed, she remembers a legislator thanking her on behalf of his grandchildren, who adored kittens. moulton earned a master’s in public health from UNC and is vice president of the Public Health Foundation Board at the School.
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l a m o n t b r y a n t
He chose to focus on pubic health, he says,
because that’s where he felt he could make
the biggest difference. “If you really think
about what drives us all, it’s not our fact
sheet or our budget sheet but our overall
health,” says Bryant, who got his PhD in
environmental sciences and engineering at
Carolina’s School of Public Health in 2000.
“Once you’ve lost your health, you’ve lost
it. It’s our most precious semi-renewable
resource, and I want to help manage it.”
Today, Bryant is manager of regulatory
affairs at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a
Johnson & Johnson company that develops
and markets advanced medical devices for
minimally invasive and open surgical pro-
cedures. Before that, he held several global
leadership positions at Procter & Gamble
(P&G), where he received many leadership
awards, including the Rising Star Award for
business contributions in 2005 and a Power
of You Recognition Award for “building the
organization” in 2007.
Dr. Ron Webb, retired manager of doc-
toral recruiting and university relations at
P&G, says Bryant’s tremendous presence
attracts people and makes him a natural
leader. “He draws you in with his smile and
strength — being a body builder helps! —
allowing you to comfortably take his lead,”
says Webb, who recruited Bryant to P&G in
2000. “He’s also willing to delegate work,
to mentor and train others. To me what
he does — taking on the responsibility of
a leader while at the same time nurturing
others — is the key aspect of outstanding
leadership.”
Webb adds that aside from being an out-
standing team player who easily motivates
people, Bryant is an excellent manager. “La-
Mont can quickly assess a problem, break it
down into multiple work components, then
make timely and concrete business deci-
sions,” says Webb.
Bryant, who’s managed some of the largest
consumer health care brands in the world,
credits much of his success to the intellectual
and collaborative learning environment at
Carolina and the breadth of courses he took
as a graduate student. He says that having a
doctoral degree from a highly regarded envi-
ronmental sciences and engineering program
helped him secure key leadership positions
in some of the most influential health care
companies in the world, but adds that it was
his actual experience within the doctoral pro-
gram that enabled him to excel in his career.
“Interacting with top-level students and
professors from various countries who came
to Chapel Hill for a common goal, engaging
in open dialogue with them, and generally
just being part of an environment that comes
up with solutions and fosters growth…there
are tons of ways UNC helped me build on skill
sets I possess,” says Bryant. “Being around
excellent people constantly inspires you to be
excellent in all things at all times.” n
— B y m a r G a r i T a D e P a N O
Competence
dr. p. laMont bryant likeS Making an iMpact on people’S
liveS. froM doMinating the field aS captain of the foot-
ball teaM at n.c. centr al univerSity, to conducting ground-
breaking reSearch aS a gr aduate Student working at the u.S.
environMental protection agency, to being the renowned
public health profeSSional he iS today, bryant iS a leader, diS-
penSing SolutionS and inSpir ation along the way.
Being around excellent people constantly inspires you to be excellent in all things at all times.
and Charisma
Dr. P. Lamont Bryant is manager of regulatory affairs at ethicon endo-Surgery, inc., a Johnson & Johnson company that develops and markets advanced medi-cal devices for minimally invasive and open surgical procedures. He earned his PhD in environmental sci-ences and engineering from Carolina in 2000.
Dr. P. Lamont Bryant
features & news P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : s a n d y m o u l t o n
14 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
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TeSy
OF
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OP
PH
OTO
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ON
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OSe
“‘Health care leadership’ is a wonderful oxymoron,” Dr. Raymond S. Greenberg
said — with characteristic wryness — to a group of civil engineers last year. “With the possible excep-tion of higher education, there is no human activity more naturally resistant to leadership than the ... American health care system.” A reality show based on the lives of those who work in health care, he suggested, could be called Hospital Fear Factor.
South Carolina into a single institution with
campuses at each university. Think about
that for a moment — two rival schools within
the same system, each with its own admin-
istration, faculty and students, each with its
own strengths and its own culture.
“People focus on change, on what will be
lost, not on what will be gained,” Greenberg
says. “There was a lot of concern about los-
ing identity, tradition, control.”
He believed that merging the two schools
would result in a whole greater than the sum
of its parts, an institution that ultimately
would become a top-tier pharmacy school.
He and MUSC’s provost conveyed this vision
through a series of town hall meetings with
students, faculty and alumni groups. But, he
says, it takes more than words to win hearts
and minds.
“The actions you follow up with have to
convince people. They have to see that what
you’re articulating and the reasons you’re
doing it make sense, and that you’re serious
about moving ahead with it.”
Merging the pharmacy schools, Mohr
says, was “a very innovative, very creative
solution to focusing resources, eliminating
duplication and providing new opportuni-
ties for educational and research collabora-
tion.” The result, in his view, is a model for
inter-institutional collaboration that could
very well be replicated around the country.
Under Greenberg’s leadership, MUSC also
created the South Carolina Bioengineering
Alliance with Clemson University. But his
most striking success is Health Sciences
South Carolina (HSSC), a public-private
partnership among several of the state’s
research universities and teaching hospitals.
Greenberg saw HSSC as a way to expand
medical research and improve South Caro-
linians’ health and economic well-being; he
now chairs its board of directors.
Again, creating a culture of collaboration
was critical — and it wasn’t easy. It took all of
what Greenberg sees as the essential leader-
ship skills.
“Do you have the ability to convince
other people that your vision makes sense?”
he asks. “Is your personality charismatic
enough to get people to want to join you?
And patience, how you treat other people,
has a lot to do with your effectiveness. 8
Creating a Culture
“Ray clearly understands that the work
we do is very consequential work, but he
certainly doesn’t take himself too seri-
ously,” says MUSC faculty member Dr. Larry
Mohr, who met Greenberg when both were
undergraduates in Carolina’s chemistry de-
partment. “He’s able to put his life and his
leadership in a very human perspective. It’s
one of the reasons he’s been so effective.”
In seven years as MUSC’s president, Green-
berg has built a long list of achievements,
including helping the school recover from
the serious financial difficulties he inherited
from the previous administration. Not only
did he put the school “back in the black” in
just one year, he has gone on to oversee the
construction of cutting-edge patient and
educational facilities. But he’s proudest of the
collaborations he has fostered.
One of those is merging the schools of
pharmacy at MUSC and the University of
Unexpected words, perhaps, from a man
who was the founding dean of the Rollins
School of Public Health at Emory Univer-
sity and is now president of the Medical
University of South Carolina (MUSC). But
Ray Greenberg’s self-effacing humor has
helped him become an innovative health
care leader, one who successfully brought
together even health care professionals who
were initially resistant to the idea.
of Collaboration
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 17
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : r a y m o n d g r e e n b e r gfeatures & news
Patience, how you treat other people, has a lot to do with your effectiveness...A lot has to do with
creating enough excitement, enough enthusiasm that other people voluntarily subscribe.
Dr. raymond Greenberg, founding dean of the rollins School of Public Health at emory University, is now president of the medical University of South Carolina. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from Carolina’s School of Public Health.
continued on page 45
16 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
By
rO
O W
ay
PH
OTO
By
aN
N B
Or
DeN
, em
Or
y U
NiV
erSi
Ty
Dr. raymond Greenberg at emory University.
“‘Health care leadership’ is a wonderful oxymoron,” Dr. Raymond S. Greenberg
said — with characteristic wryness — to a group of civil engineers last year. “With the possible excep-tion of higher education, there is no human activity more naturally resistant to leadership than the ... American health care system.” A reality show based on the lives of those who work in health care, he suggested, could be called Hospital Fear Factor.
South Carolina into a single institution with
campuses at each university. Think about
that for a moment — two rival schools within
the same system, each with its own admin-
istration, faculty and students, each with its
own strengths and its own culture.
“People focus on change, on what will be
lost, not on what will be gained,” Greenberg
says. “There was a lot of concern about los-
ing identity, tradition, control.”
He believed that merging the two schools
would result in a whole greater than the sum
of its parts, an institution that ultimately
would become a top-tier pharmacy school.
He and MUSC’s provost conveyed this vision
through a series of town hall meetings with
students, faculty and alumni groups. But, he
says, it takes more than words to win hearts
and minds.
“The actions you follow up with have to
convince people. They have to see that what
you’re articulating and the reasons you’re
doing it make sense, and that you’re serious
about moving ahead with it.”
Merging the pharmacy schools, Mohr
says, was “a very innovative, very creative
solution to focusing resources, eliminating
duplication and providing new opportuni-
ties for educational and research collabora-
tion.” The result, in his view, is a model for
inter-institutional collaboration that could
very well be replicated around the country.
Under Greenberg’s leadership, MUSC also
created the South Carolina Bioengineering
Alliance with Clemson University. But his
most striking success is Health Sciences
South Carolina (HSSC), a public-private
partnership among several of the state’s
research universities and teaching hospitals.
Greenberg saw HSSC as a way to expand
medical research and improve South Caro-
linians’ health and economic well-being; he
now chairs its board of directors.
Again, creating a culture of collaboration
was critical — and it wasn’t easy. It took all of
what Greenberg sees as the essential leader-
ship skills.
“Do you have the ability to convince
other people that your vision makes sense?”
he asks. “Is your personality charismatic
enough to get people to want to join you?
And patience, how you treat other people,
has a lot to do with your effectiveness. 8
Creating a Culture
“Ray clearly understands that the work
we do is very consequential work, but he
certainly doesn’t take himself too seri-
ously,” says MUSC faculty member Dr. Larry
Mohr, who met Greenberg when both were
undergraduates in Carolina’s chemistry de-
partment. “He’s able to put his life and his
leadership in a very human perspective. It’s
one of the reasons he’s been so effective.”
In seven years as MUSC’s president, Green-
berg has built a long list of achievements,
including helping the school recover from
the serious financial difficulties he inherited
from the previous administration. Not only
did he put the school “back in the black” in
just one year, he has gone on to oversee the
construction of cutting-edge patient and
educational facilities. But he’s proudest of the
collaborations he has fostered.
One of those is merging the schools of
pharmacy at MUSC and the University of
Unexpected words, perhaps, from a man
who was the founding dean of the Rollins
School of Public Health at Emory Univer-
sity and is now president of the Medical
University of South Carolina (MUSC). But
Ray Greenberg’s self-effacing humor has
helped him become an innovative health
care leader, one who successfully brought
together even health care professionals who
were initially resistant to the idea.
of Collaboration
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 17
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : r a y m o n d g r e e n b e r gfeatures & news
Patience, how you treat other people, has a lot to do with your effectiveness...A lot has to do with
creating enough excitement, enough enthusiasm that other people voluntarily subscribe.
Dr. raymond Greenberg, founding dean of the rollins School of Public Health at emory University, is now president of the medical University of South Carolina. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from Carolina’s School of Public Health.
continued on page 45
16 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
By
rO
O W
ay
PH
OTO
By
aN
N B
Or
DeN
, em
Or
y U
NiV
erSi
Ty
Dr. raymond Greenberg at emory University.
18 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 19
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : b o b W e e d o n
His hunch led to the diagnosis of the first
case of canine rabies in New Hanover
County in more than 50 years and initiated
a hemisphere-wide, $400,000 effort to corral
and inoculate the 50 or so individuals who’d
encountered Johnny during his time in the
clinic. “We had quite a party in the ER that
night,” he recalls, referring to the number of
people needing vaccinations.
Such events have become a hallmark of
Weedon’s career. A Wilmington veterinarian
for more than 25 years, he is the senior part-
ner at the College Road Animal Hospital.
His clinical, case-based focus has expanded
to include a public health perspective. In
the process, he has become a leader in both
arenas. “I enjoy contributing to the com-
munity and putting something back in the
system,” he says.
Although he credits his undergraduate
advisor at Purdue, Martin Stob, for instilling
in him an inclination toward community
service, it was an auspicious meeting in 2001
with Dr. Jean McNeil that set Weedon on his
current population-based path. McNeil, the
animal control services manager for New
Hanover (N.C.) County Health Department,
was looking for someone to help craft a
system to ensure that adopted animals were
spayed or neutered. Together, they developed
a plan to have animals transferred directly
to private veterinary clinics for surgical
sterilization before being placed in homes.
But the plan resulted in a delay that proved
a disincentive to adoption. What was needed
to reduce that delay was an on-site spay/neu-
ter facility. So in 2001, at McNeil’s invitation,
Weedon joined a team at the University of
North Carolina’s Management Academy for
Public Health (see page 7), a program of the
North Carolina Institute for Public Health,
charged with developing a business plan for
such a facility. The county subsequently ap-
proved the plan developed by the team and
built the facility, which soon saw a dramatic
increase in adoption numbers and a 100
percent spay/neuter compliance rate.
A proponent of life-long learning, Weedon
began to consider pursuing a master’s degree
in public health. Hollie Pavlica, an advisor
for the Management Academy (see page
7) and a graduate and faculty member of
UNC’s Public Health Leadership Program
(PHLP), encouraged him to consider PHLP,
which offers public health certificates and
degree programs in traditional and distance
learning formats (see page 7). “He was
really committed to making a difference in
his community,” she remembers, “and he
wanted to learn as much as he could.”
Weedon elected first to enroll in the
School’s Core Concepts in Public Health
Certificate program — a 15-credit program
offered in an online format (see www.sph.
unc.edu/nciph/certificate). “It had been 20
years since I’d really done anything ‘aca-
demic,’” he says, “and I didn’t want to flunk
out of a master’s program.” He soon distin-
guished himself in his certificate courses,
and went on to get his master of public
health with the Public Health Leadership
Program in 2005.
“I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, have done it
without the distance approach,” he says.
“Our friends jokingly refer to my wife and
me as a quadra-career couple.” (Sami Win-
ter is a veterinarian as well as a competitive
dance instructor and judge.) “If I had tried
to do the MPH in a quasi-residence program,
even a weekend program, it would have been
virtually impossible.”
Since his graduation, Weedon has be-
come increasingly involved in public health
concerns in his New Hanover County com-
munity. He is an adjunct professor at the
University of North Carolina-Wilmington,
where he teaches a course in Epidemiology
and one called “Animals and Human Soci-
ety,” which he developed. 8
From puppies to people
Dr. Bob Weedon spent the Christmas holiday of 2006 as he often has over the years,
working in his veterinary hospital in Wilmington, N.C. Things are usually slow then, but this year was different. The condition of a puppy admitted to the clinic with a broken leg in early December had worsened considerably and the staff, who’d named the puppy “Johnny,” was mystified. Weedon suggested they test the dog for rabies.
Weedon understands link
between veterinary and
public health concerns.
features & news
Dr. Bob Weedon (above), a veterinarian in Wilmington, N.C., and faculty adviser and adjunct professor in the Department of Biology and marine Biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), gives a rabies vaccination to a cat at a no-cost rabies clinic co-hosted by the UNCW Pre-Veterinary medical association in partner-ship with New Hanover County animal Control as part of World rabies Day on Sept. 8, 2007. Weedon (left) receives a “kiss” from “Tommy” in spring 2006 to celebrate the UNCW Pre-Veterinary medical association’s installation of stations that hold baggies for people to pick up animal waste while walking their pets on the UNCW campus. Weedon is a graduate of the UNC School of Public Health’s Public Health Leadership Program, Southeast Public Health Leadership institute and management academy for Public Health.
I enjoy contributing to the community and putting something back in the system.
continued on page 45
PH
OTO
By
La
Ur
a J
OH
NST
ON
P H OTO By L aU r a J O H N S TO N
18 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 19
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : b o b W e e d o n
His hunch led to the diagnosis of the first
case of canine rabies in New Hanover
County in more than 50 years and initiated
a hemisphere-wide, $400,000 effort to corral
and inoculate the 50 or so individuals who’d
encountered Johnny during his time in the
clinic. “We had quite a party in the ER that
night,” he recalls, referring to the number of
people needing vaccinations.
Such events have become a hallmark of
Weedon’s career. A Wilmington veterinarian
for more than 25 years, he is the senior part-
ner at the College Road Animal Hospital.
His clinical, case-based focus has expanded
to include a public health perspective. In
the process, he has become a leader in both
arenas. “I enjoy contributing to the com-
munity and putting something back in the
system,” he says.
Although he credits his undergraduate
advisor at Purdue, Martin Stob, for instilling
in him an inclination toward community
service, it was an auspicious meeting in 2001
with Dr. Jean McNeil that set Weedon on his
current population-based path. McNeil, the
animal control services manager for New
Hanover (N.C.) County Health Department,
was looking for someone to help craft a
system to ensure that adopted animals were
spayed or neutered. Together, they developed
a plan to have animals transferred directly
to private veterinary clinics for surgical
sterilization before being placed in homes.
But the plan resulted in a delay that proved
a disincentive to adoption. What was needed
to reduce that delay was an on-site spay/neu-
ter facility. So in 2001, at McNeil’s invitation,
Weedon joined a team at the University of
North Carolina’s Management Academy for
Public Health (see page 7), a program of the
North Carolina Institute for Public Health,
charged with developing a business plan for
such a facility. The county subsequently ap-
proved the plan developed by the team and
built the facility, which soon saw a dramatic
increase in adoption numbers and a 100
percent spay/neuter compliance rate.
A proponent of life-long learning, Weedon
began to consider pursuing a master’s degree
in public health. Hollie Pavlica, an advisor
for the Management Academy (see page
7) and a graduate and faculty member of
UNC’s Public Health Leadership Program
(PHLP), encouraged him to consider PHLP,
which offers public health certificates and
degree programs in traditional and distance
learning formats (see page 7). “He was
really committed to making a difference in
his community,” she remembers, “and he
wanted to learn as much as he could.”
Weedon elected first to enroll in the
School’s Core Concepts in Public Health
Certificate program — a 15-credit program
offered in an online format (see www.sph.
unc.edu/nciph/certificate). “It had been 20
years since I’d really done anything ‘aca-
demic,’” he says, “and I didn’t want to flunk
out of a master’s program.” He soon distin-
guished himself in his certificate courses,
and went on to get his master of public
health with the Public Health Leadership
Program in 2005.
“I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, have done it
without the distance approach,” he says.
“Our friends jokingly refer to my wife and
me as a quadra-career couple.” (Sami Win-
ter is a veterinarian as well as a competitive
dance instructor and judge.) “If I had tried
to do the MPH in a quasi-residence program,
even a weekend program, it would have been
virtually impossible.”
Since his graduation, Weedon has be-
come increasingly involved in public health
concerns in his New Hanover County com-
munity. He is an adjunct professor at the
University of North Carolina-Wilmington,
where he teaches a course in Epidemiology
and one called “Animals and Human Soci-
ety,” which he developed. 8
From puppies to people
Dr. Bob Weedon spent the Christmas holiday of 2006 as he often has over the years,
working in his veterinary hospital in Wilmington, N.C. Things are usually slow then, but this year was different. The condition of a puppy admitted to the clinic with a broken leg in early December had worsened considerably and the staff, who’d named the puppy “Johnny,” was mystified. Weedon suggested they test the dog for rabies.
Weedon understands link
between veterinary and
public health concerns.
features & news
Dr. Bob Weedon (above), a veterinarian in Wilmington, N.C., and faculty adviser and adjunct professor in the Department of Biology and marine Biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), gives a rabies vaccination to a cat at a no-cost rabies clinic co-hosted by the UNCW Pre-Veterinary medical association in partner-ship with New Hanover County animal Control as part of World rabies Day on Sept. 8, 2007. Weedon (left) receives a “kiss” from “Tommy” in spring 2006 to celebrate the UNCW Pre-Veterinary medical association’s installation of stations that hold baggies for people to pick up animal waste while walking their pets on the UNCW campus. Weedon is a graduate of the UNC School of Public Health’s Public Health Leadership Program, Southeast Public Health Leadership institute and management academy for Public Health.
I enjoy contributing to the community and putting something back in the system.
continued on page 45
PH
OTO
By
La
Ur
a J
OH
NST
ON
P H OTO By L aU r a J O H N S TO N
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 21
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : e d d i e m H l a n g a
joyful commencement guests were con-
gregants at Barbee’s Chapel Missionary
Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., a com-
munity that nurtured — and felt nurtured
by — Mhlanga’s indomitable spirit during
the time he spent away from his native South
Africa.
There was much that brought joy that
year. Only days before — on April 27, 1994 —
South Africa had held its first democratic
elections, with people of all races being
able to vote for the first time. For Mhlanga,
forced out of his local congregation in the
South African village of Acornhoek because
he opposed segregation, the North Carolina
church family was a special gift.
The obstetrician’s journey to the United
States was a blessing as well. His wife Lindiwe
(“my better three-quarters,” he claims) had
been selected as a W.K. Kellogg Scholar at
UNC, and Mhlanga traveled to Chapel Hill
with her. Having been involved himself in the
Kellogg International Leadership Program, he
believed the master’s of public health curricu-
lum at UNC offered analytical skills, compe-
tencies, and an understanding of community
development that would be of great benefit to
his and Lindiwe’s work in Acornhoek.
Now head of the Department of Obstet-
rics and Gynecology at the Nelson R. Man-
dela School of Medicine in Durban, South
Africa, and adjunct associate professor in the
Department of Maternal and Child Health at
the UNC School of Public Health, Mhlanga
is champion of the rural poor and a stalwart
advocate for women’s and children’s health.
He was drawn to the specialty, he says,
because of desperate need in South Africa
for advanced obstetric, gynecologic and
pediatric skills during emergencies. As in
the United States, many South African phy-
sicians are not willing to serve in poor, rural
areas after they finish their long training.
While serving as the first director of Ma-
ternal, Child and Women’s Health and Ge-
netics in the National Department of Health
in Pretoria, Mhlanga lobbied for reproductive
and sexual health and rights — work that in
1996 resulted in South Africa’s Choice on
Termination of Pregnancy Act and later, legis-
lation for the Notification of and Confidential
Enquiry into Maternal Deaths.
In 1999, as chief director of national
health programs, he became involved in
policymaking and education about nutri-
tion and prevention and treatment of HIV/
AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmit-
ted diseases.
Subsequently, Mhlanga’s leadership in
women’s and children’s health has been
solicited by international agencies such as
the World Health Organization and United
Nations agencies including the Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) and the Educational, Scien-
tific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
among others.
In 2005, he became a member of the
board of Ipas, an international Chapel Hill-
based agency that works to protect women’s
sexual and reproductive rights and ensure
that the termination of pregnancy is a safe
procedure for those who seek it.
Elizabeth Maguire, president and CEO
of the organization, notes that “Dr. Mh-
langa has been a consistent and passionate
supporter of women’s reproductive rights,
a man of conviction who has identified
himself with issues such as abortion and
HIV/AIDS that are often stigmatized. His
leadership was pivotal to giving women in
South Africa access to legal abortion in the
1990s, and he continues as a leading advo-
cate to protect their rights under continuing
challenges. He is a man of extraordinary
integrity, compassion, spirituality, vision
and eloquence.”
Mhlanga is humble about his accomplish-
ments. “The time [spent] in Chapel Hill
allowed me to meet amazing people in the
School and the Chapel Hill community. It
affirmed that the challenges people face are
the same all over the globe. We can all learn
from one another.”
“Life is a great gift,” he adds, “and living
it right — in harmony with people and the
environment — is the greatest opportunity
one has.”
Mhlanga feels rewarded by the impact he
has made on the lives of women in South
Africa and honored to have been part of the
great changes that have swept his country.
He is immensely proud of his two daughters,
one of whom has begun to follow in her fa-
ther’s footsteps by earning a joint Bachelor of
Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree at
the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
He delights in colleagues and friends he
has made around the world and is grateful
for leaders who have inspired him — Martin
Luther King Jr. (“more concerned with jus-
tice than material gain”), Nelson Mandela
and Mahatma Gandhi (for reminding him
that “preoccupation with the past takes
time away from the future”), and UNC Ke-
nan Professor Emeritus John Hatch (“who
embodies what I want to become — a father
and mentor to many, walking the talk and
leading, by example, in humility”).
The leader he admires most, though,
is his late mother. “Sennie Mankareng
n’waMalapane knew hunger and distress,”
Mhlanga recalls, “but made certain her chil-
dren did not sleep with hunger. [She] taught
me that my sibling is the person next to me.
[She] taught me diligence and discipline,
without which I would not have been where
I am today.”
All these leaders, Mhlanga says, have been
“able to communicate their understanding
of the human condition and to transcend
human barriers by touching the soul and
heart of people. That attribute,” he says,
“makes a great leader — to share the vision
and touch the soul.”
It’s a description that fits him well. n
— B y L i N D a K a S T L e m a N
the Soul“Thank you, Jesus!”
So rose the shout of praise from the audience when Dr. Roland Edgar (Eddie) Mhlanga, danced across a stage in spring 1994 to accept his master’s of public health diploma from the UNC School of Public Health. More than 40 of the
To Share
and Touch the Vision
Life is a great gift and living it right—in harmony with people and the environment—
is the greatest opportunity one has.
Dr. eddie mhlanga (center) is welcomed into the home of Dr. and mrs. Gebreamlak Ogbaselassie during an October 2007 visit to eritrea. mhlanga, adjunct associate professor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of maternal and Child Health, worked with the eritrea ministry of Health and the World Health Organization to devise a system for notification of and enquiry into maternal and newborn deaths in that country. mhlanga is head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Nelson r. mandela School of medicine in Durban, South africa, and holds a master’s in public health from UNC. Ogbaselassie is an obstetrician/gynecologist and adviser to the eritrea ministry of Health.
Dr. roland edgar (eddie) mhlanga
features & news
20 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 21
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : e d d i e m H l a n g a
joyful commencement guests were con-
gregants at Barbee’s Chapel Missionary
Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., a com-
munity that nurtured — and felt nurtured
by — Mhlanga’s indomitable spirit during
the time he spent away from his native South
Africa.
There was much that brought joy that
year. Only days before — on April 27, 1994 —
South Africa had held its first democratic
elections, with people of all races being
able to vote for the first time. For Mhlanga,
forced out of his local congregation in the
South African village of Acornhoek because
he opposed segregation, the North Carolina
church family was a special gift.
The obstetrician’s journey to the United
States was a blessing as well. His wife Lindiwe
(“my better three-quarters,” he claims) had
been selected as a W.K. Kellogg Scholar at
UNC, and Mhlanga traveled to Chapel Hill
with her. Having been involved himself in the
Kellogg International Leadership Program, he
believed the master’s of public health curricu-
lum at UNC offered analytical skills, compe-
tencies, and an understanding of community
development that would be of great benefit to
his and Lindiwe’s work in Acornhoek.
Now head of the Department of Obstet-
rics and Gynecology at the Nelson R. Man-
dela School of Medicine in Durban, South
Africa, and adjunct associate professor in the
Department of Maternal and Child Health at
the UNC School of Public Health, Mhlanga
is champion of the rural poor and a stalwart
advocate for women’s and children’s health.
He was drawn to the specialty, he says,
because of desperate need in South Africa
for advanced obstetric, gynecologic and
pediatric skills during emergencies. As in
the United States, many South African phy-
sicians are not willing to serve in poor, rural
areas after they finish their long training.
While serving as the first director of Ma-
ternal, Child and Women’s Health and Ge-
netics in the National Department of Health
in Pretoria, Mhlanga lobbied for reproductive
and sexual health and rights — work that in
1996 resulted in South Africa’s Choice on
Termination of Pregnancy Act and later, legis-
lation for the Notification of and Confidential
Enquiry into Maternal Deaths.
In 1999, as chief director of national
health programs, he became involved in
policymaking and education about nutri-
tion and prevention and treatment of HIV/
AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmit-
ted diseases.
Subsequently, Mhlanga’s leadership in
women’s and children’s health has been
solicited by international agencies such as
the World Health Organization and United
Nations agencies including the Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) and the Educational, Scien-
tific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
among others.
In 2005, he became a member of the
board of Ipas, an international Chapel Hill-
based agency that works to protect women’s
sexual and reproductive rights and ensure
that the termination of pregnancy is a safe
procedure for those who seek it.
Elizabeth Maguire, president and CEO
of the organization, notes that “Dr. Mh-
langa has been a consistent and passionate
supporter of women’s reproductive rights,
a man of conviction who has identified
himself with issues such as abortion and
HIV/AIDS that are often stigmatized. His
leadership was pivotal to giving women in
South Africa access to legal abortion in the
1990s, and he continues as a leading advo-
cate to protect their rights under continuing
challenges. He is a man of extraordinary
integrity, compassion, spirituality, vision
and eloquence.”
Mhlanga is humble about his accomplish-
ments. “The time [spent] in Chapel Hill
allowed me to meet amazing people in the
School and the Chapel Hill community. It
affirmed that the challenges people face are
the same all over the globe. We can all learn
from one another.”
“Life is a great gift,” he adds, “and living
it right — in harmony with people and the
environment — is the greatest opportunity
one has.”
Mhlanga feels rewarded by the impact he
has made on the lives of women in South
Africa and honored to have been part of the
great changes that have swept his country.
He is immensely proud of his two daughters,
one of whom has begun to follow in her fa-
ther’s footsteps by earning a joint Bachelor of
Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree at
the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
He delights in colleagues and friends he
has made around the world and is grateful
for leaders who have inspired him — Martin
Luther King Jr. (“more concerned with jus-
tice than material gain”), Nelson Mandela
and Mahatma Gandhi (for reminding him
that “preoccupation with the past takes
time away from the future”), and UNC Ke-
nan Professor Emeritus John Hatch (“who
embodies what I want to become — a father
and mentor to many, walking the talk and
leading, by example, in humility”).
The leader he admires most, though,
is his late mother. “Sennie Mankareng
n’waMalapane knew hunger and distress,”
Mhlanga recalls, “but made certain her chil-
dren did not sleep with hunger. [She] taught
me that my sibling is the person next to me.
[She] taught me diligence and discipline,
without which I would not have been where
I am today.”
All these leaders, Mhlanga says, have been
“able to communicate their understanding
of the human condition and to transcend
human barriers by touching the soul and
heart of people. That attribute,” he says,
“makes a great leader — to share the vision
and touch the soul.”
It’s a description that fits him well. n
— B y L i N D a K a S T L e m a N
the Soul“Thank you, Jesus!”
So rose the shout of praise from the audience when Dr. Roland Edgar (Eddie) Mhlanga, danced across a stage in spring 1994 to accept his master’s of public health diploma from the UNC School of Public Health. More than 40 of the
To Share
and Touch the Vision
Life is a great gift and living it right—in harmony with people and the environment—
is the greatest opportunity one has.
Dr. eddie mhlanga (center) is welcomed into the home of Dr. and mrs. Gebreamlak Ogbaselassie during an October 2007 visit to eritrea. mhlanga, adjunct associate professor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of maternal and Child Health, worked with the eritrea ministry of Health and the World Health Organization to devise a system for notification of and enquiry into maternal and newborn deaths in that country. mhlanga is head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Nelson r. mandela School of medicine in Durban, South africa, and holds a master’s in public health from UNC. Ogbaselassie is an obstetrician/gynecologist and adviser to the eritrea ministry of Health.
Dr. roland edgar (eddie) mhlanga
features & news
20 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 23
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : r o b e r t v e r H a l e n
Thanks to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, appliance cords are now short.
Bicycles no longer have long “banana seats”
that tempt children to add extra riders. Paint
no longer contains added lead. Crib rails are
close enough together so that a baby’s head
can’t fit through. Child safety seats are engi-
neering marvels.
UNC School of Public Health Alumnus
Dr. Robert Verhalen created the data collec-
tion system for the Consumer Product Safety
Commission that led to these and many
other life-saving, injury-reducing changes.
For 22 years, he headed the Commission’s
epidemiology section, collecting data about
injuries all over the country. The Commis-
sion then used those data to decide which
products to investigate and regulate, and
what actions to recommend to Congress.
“He was a pioneer in product safety,”
says Dr. Carol Runyan, director of the
UNC Injury Prevention Research Center.
“He was a very innovative, important con-
tributor to injury prevention throughout
his career at the Consumer Product Safety
Commission.”
Runyan nominated Verhalen for the
American Public Health Association’s Dis-
tinguished Career Award, which he received
in 1999.
A native of Lake Bluff, Ill., Verhalen
joined the Marine Corps after high school,
then went to the University of Iowa on the GI
bill, studying zoology with a concentration
in parasitology. After graduation, he became
the parasitologist for the Lake County, Ill.,
health department.
“There weren’t enough parasites in Lake
County to keep me busy,” he says, “so they
made me a sanitarian and the safety repre-
sentative.” He had no background in safety,
so when he heard Carolina’s School of Public
Health was offering a one-week course in
injury prevention, he signed up.
“I was fascinated by it,” he says. “I decided
I wanted to come back to Carolina and get a
master’s degree.” That fall, he packed up his
family and moved to Chapel Hill to study
health administration. One year later, degree
in hand, he went to Atlanta as the housing
hygiene and accident prevention consultant
for the Georgia Department of Health. He
also was in charge of 11 poison control cen-
ters across Georgia.
“I started trying to do research on
accidents,” he says, “but I didn’t have
sufficient analytic tools in statistics and
epidemiology.”
He contacted his teachers at UNC — Drs.
John Cassel and Al Tyroler — and asked if
he could get a doctorate in epidemiology
with a concentration in injury prevention.
While earning his DrPH, he worked at
the UNC Highway Safety Research Center
and in the School’s Department of Health
Administration.
In his second year, he was asked to as-
sume leadership of the injury task force on a
presidential commission on product safety,
which, in 1970, recommended establish-
ing the National Consumer Product Safety
Commission. He was appointed head of the
new agency’s Bureau of Epidemiology when
it was established in 1973.
His first challenge was to find a way to
collect reliable data.
“Historically, the federal government had
been relying on newspaper stories, small lo-
cal studies and that kind of thing,” he says.
“That wasn’t adequate.”
The commission agreed to define “in-
jury” as an event requiring professional
medical attention. He enlisted 14 hospitals as
a pilot test to report injuries treated in their
emergency rooms.
“In the first nine months, those 14 hospi-
tals reported 85,000 cases,” he says, “so we
knew that system was going to work, so we
went national.”
It became known as the National Elec-
tronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS).
Eventually, Verhalen’s system was used
to collect other sorts of data, including
injuries caused by medical devices and non-
prescription drugs for the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration; injuries caused by
firearms for the U.S. Department of Justice;
and injuries caused by environmental factors
for the Environmental Protection Agency.
After a while, NEISS collected data from
hospital emergency departments for 11 dif-
ferent federal agencies.
“It was much more cost-effective for the
government and much less of an administra-
tive burden on the emergency rooms” than
having separate systems, he says.
When Verhalen retired from the Con-
sumer Product Safety Commission in 1995,
he planned to sail through the Great Lakes,
down the Mississippi River and around
Florida.
“But as soon as word got out I was going
to retire, my phone started ringing,” he says.
He was in hot demand by many companies
as an injury analysis consultant. He started
a consulting business with his son. Then, in
late 2007, he started working with the Chil-
dren’s Hospital of Philadelphia, researching
traffic safety injuries. He and his wife, Phyl-
lis, still live in the Washington suburbs of
Virginia, and Verhalen is a member of the
School’s Public Health Foundation, Inc.,
Board of Directors.
“I sold the sailboat,” he says. “I’m still
having too much fun with my career.” n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Efficient, reliable
Years ago, electric frying pans, coffee pots and other kitchen appliances came with long cords
so people could put them anywhere on the counter, no matter where the electric plug was. But long cords were easy for children to grab, pull, and dump hot coffee, grease or other liquids on themselves.
Dr. robert Verhalen created the data collection system for the Consumer Product Safety Commission that led to many life-saving, injury-reducing changes throughout the United States. Verhalen holds a doctorate in epidemiology from Carolina’s School of Public Health.
He was a pioneer in product safety...a very innovative, important contributor to
injury prevention throughout his career at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
features & news
22 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
injury data collectionsaves lives
PH
OTO
By
Pa
UL
Cr
aN
e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 23
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : r o b e r t v e r H a l e n
Thanks to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, appliance cords are now short.
Bicycles no longer have long “banana seats”
that tempt children to add extra riders. Paint
no longer contains added lead. Crib rails are
close enough together so that a baby’s head
can’t fit through. Child safety seats are engi-
neering marvels.
UNC School of Public Health Alumnus
Dr. Robert Verhalen created the data collec-
tion system for the Consumer Product Safety
Commission that led to these and many
other life-saving, injury-reducing changes.
For 22 years, he headed the Commission’s
epidemiology section, collecting data about
injuries all over the country. The Commis-
sion then used those data to decide which
products to investigate and regulate, and
what actions to recommend to Congress.
“He was a pioneer in product safety,”
says Dr. Carol Runyan, director of the
UNC Injury Prevention Research Center.
“He was a very innovative, important con-
tributor to injury prevention throughout
his career at the Consumer Product Safety
Commission.”
Runyan nominated Verhalen for the
American Public Health Association’s Dis-
tinguished Career Award, which he received
in 1999.
A native of Lake Bluff, Ill., Verhalen
joined the Marine Corps after high school,
then went to the University of Iowa on the GI
bill, studying zoology with a concentration
in parasitology. After graduation, he became
the parasitologist for the Lake County, Ill.,
health department.
“There weren’t enough parasites in Lake
County to keep me busy,” he says, “so they
made me a sanitarian and the safety repre-
sentative.” He had no background in safety,
so when he heard Carolina’s School of Public
Health was offering a one-week course in
injury prevention, he signed up.
“I was fascinated by it,” he says. “I decided
I wanted to come back to Carolina and get a
master’s degree.” That fall, he packed up his
family and moved to Chapel Hill to study
health administration. One year later, degree
in hand, he went to Atlanta as the housing
hygiene and accident prevention consultant
for the Georgia Department of Health. He
also was in charge of 11 poison control cen-
ters across Georgia.
“I started trying to do research on
accidents,” he says, “but I didn’t have
sufficient analytic tools in statistics and
epidemiology.”
He contacted his teachers at UNC — Drs.
John Cassel and Al Tyroler — and asked if
he could get a doctorate in epidemiology
with a concentration in injury prevention.
While earning his DrPH, he worked at
the UNC Highway Safety Research Center
and in the School’s Department of Health
Administration.
In his second year, he was asked to as-
sume leadership of the injury task force on a
presidential commission on product safety,
which, in 1970, recommended establish-
ing the National Consumer Product Safety
Commission. He was appointed head of the
new agency’s Bureau of Epidemiology when
it was established in 1973.
His first challenge was to find a way to
collect reliable data.
“Historically, the federal government had
been relying on newspaper stories, small lo-
cal studies and that kind of thing,” he says.
“That wasn’t adequate.”
The commission agreed to define “in-
jury” as an event requiring professional
medical attention. He enlisted 14 hospitals as
a pilot test to report injuries treated in their
emergency rooms.
“In the first nine months, those 14 hospi-
tals reported 85,000 cases,” he says, “so we
knew that system was going to work, so we
went national.”
It became known as the National Elec-
tronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS).
Eventually, Verhalen’s system was used
to collect other sorts of data, including
injuries caused by medical devices and non-
prescription drugs for the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration; injuries caused by
firearms for the U.S. Department of Justice;
and injuries caused by environmental factors
for the Environmental Protection Agency.
After a while, NEISS collected data from
hospital emergency departments for 11 dif-
ferent federal agencies.
“It was much more cost-effective for the
government and much less of an administra-
tive burden on the emergency rooms” than
having separate systems, he says.
When Verhalen retired from the Con-
sumer Product Safety Commission in 1995,
he planned to sail through the Great Lakes,
down the Mississippi River and around
Florida.
“But as soon as word got out I was going
to retire, my phone started ringing,” he says.
He was in hot demand by many companies
as an injury analysis consultant. He started
a consulting business with his son. Then, in
late 2007, he started working with the Chil-
dren’s Hospital of Philadelphia, researching
traffic safety injuries. He and his wife, Phyl-
lis, still live in the Washington suburbs of
Virginia, and Verhalen is a member of the
School’s Public Health Foundation, Inc.,
Board of Directors.
“I sold the sailboat,” he says. “I’m still
having too much fun with my career.” n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Efficient, reliable
Years ago, electric frying pans, coffee pots and other kitchen appliances came with long cords
so people could put them anywhere on the counter, no matter where the electric plug was. But long cords were easy for children to grab, pull, and dump hot coffee, grease or other liquids on themselves.
Dr. robert Verhalen created the data collection system for the Consumer Product Safety Commission that led to many life-saving, injury-reducing changes throughout the United States. Verhalen holds a doctorate in epidemiology from Carolina’s School of Public Health.
He was a pioneer in product safety...a very innovative, important contributor to
injury prevention throughout his career at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
features & news
22 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
injury data collectionsaves lives
PH
OTO
By
Pa
UL
Cr
aN
e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 25
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : g r e g a l l g o o d
Allgood, who earned his master’s in envi-
ronmental sciences and engineering from
Carolina’s School of Public Health in 1983,
had worked at Procter and Gamble (P&G)
on everything from Pantene shampoo to the
Olestra fat substitute. In 2001, he joined the
team developing the PUR sachet, a packet of
f locculation and disinfection chemicals that
can clean 10 liters of water in minutes. The
company tried selling it in developing coun-
tries such as Guatemala, but found it hard
to make a profit. Making sales required an
extensive investment in public health educa-
tion about the need for clean water.
But Allgood lobbied P&G to continue
developing PUR, not just by handing if off
to an aid organization, but by creating a
nonprofit group within the company.
Why? “My motivation was emotionally
seeing how much people wanted it,” Allgood
says. During a visit to Kenya, Allgood talked
to a woman who was drawing water from a
stream where cattle had just defecated. “We
took the woman’s water and cleaned it for
her with the product, and while we were
talking about it, a man came along and stole
her bucket of clean water,” he says. “She got
down on her hands and knees and begged us
for more packets.”
Out of Allgood’s pitch came P&G’s Chil-
dren’s Safe Drinking Water Project, which
donates PUR sachets to aid groups and also
sells the product at cost. “By providing the
product at cost for other groups that see
value in it, we can expand the program
much more than if we used the program to
just subsidize it and give it away,” Allgood
says. After buying the product at cost, non-
governmental organizations and small-scale
retailers in developing countries can sell it at
a small profit.
Bob Shimp, leader of P&G’s Global
Regulatory Community of Practice and
a 1984 alumnus of the School’s doctoral
program, says that Allgood’s ability to get
people behind his vision has brought to life
“a very novel business model that was not the
typical approach that P&G takes.” Shimp at-
tributes Allgood’s success to his willingness
to “be on the ground promoting what he
believes in,” both with P&G leadership and
in countries where PUR is needed. When
Allgood demonstrates PUR in the field, he’s
always the first to take a drink, says Lisa
Jones Christensen, an assistant professor at
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School who’s
writing a case study of the drinking water
project. “He is very hands-on in the field
and seems to have a real heart for this work,”
Christensen says.
Allgood learned the importance of spend-
ing time on the ground from former P&G
CEO John Pepper. “I was lucky enough to
work with him early in my career and learn
that to be a great leader you have to be will-
ing to serve,” Allgood says.
P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water
Project has won numerous awards, including
the Presidential Ron Brown Award for Corpo-
rate Leadership, and Allgood himself in 2007
won the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health’s Center for Communications
Programs Gold Medallion Award.
Allgood says he learned to aim high from
at least one leader from the UNC School of
Public Health — the late Dr. Edward Kuen-
zler, whose research specialized in the study
of lakes, rivers and streams. “He had higher
expectations of me than he did of some other
people, and he let me know that,” Allgood
says. “At first, I thought that was very unfair.
But I learned that as a leader, sometimes you
can motivate someone who is already good
to be even better.” n
– B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Put in time on the ground, and aim high
In 2003, Dr. Greg Allgood asked Procter and Gamble to do something unheard of —
intentionally pursue a product that wasn’t making any money.
A recipe for leadership:
Dr. Greg allgood (above) holds a young Kenyan boy during a June 2007 visit to Kibera — one of africa’s largest slums in Nairobi, Kenya. allgood, director of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Project at Procter & Gamble, was visiting a local women’s group that was educating people on safe drinking water. He earned a master’s in environmental sciences and engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill. (right) allgood visits with rural school children in a September 2006 trip to Haiti. Over the next three years, the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Project will reach one million school children with safe drinking water education and information about PUr packets — sachets of disinfection chemicals that can clean 10 liters of water in minutes.
As a leader, sometimes you can motivate someone who is already good
to be even better.
features & news
24 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
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PH
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c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 25
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : g r e g a l l g o o d
Allgood, who earned his master’s in envi-
ronmental sciences and engineering from
Carolina’s School of Public Health in 1983,
had worked at Procter and Gamble (P&G)
on everything from Pantene shampoo to the
Olestra fat substitute. In 2001, he joined the
team developing the PUR sachet, a packet of
f locculation and disinfection chemicals that
can clean 10 liters of water in minutes. The
company tried selling it in developing coun-
tries such as Guatemala, but found it hard
to make a profit. Making sales required an
extensive investment in public health educa-
tion about the need for clean water.
But Allgood lobbied P&G to continue
developing PUR, not just by handing if off
to an aid organization, but by creating a
nonprofit group within the company.
Why? “My motivation was emotionally
seeing how much people wanted it,” Allgood
says. During a visit to Kenya, Allgood talked
to a woman who was drawing water from a
stream where cattle had just defecated. “We
took the woman’s water and cleaned it for
her with the product, and while we were
talking about it, a man came along and stole
her bucket of clean water,” he says. “She got
down on her hands and knees and begged us
for more packets.”
Out of Allgood’s pitch came P&G’s Chil-
dren’s Safe Drinking Water Project, which
donates PUR sachets to aid groups and also
sells the product at cost. “By providing the
product at cost for other groups that see
value in it, we can expand the program
much more than if we used the program to
just subsidize it and give it away,” Allgood
says. After buying the product at cost, non-
governmental organizations and small-scale
retailers in developing countries can sell it at
a small profit.
Bob Shimp, leader of P&G’s Global
Regulatory Community of Practice and
a 1984 alumnus of the School’s doctoral
program, says that Allgood’s ability to get
people behind his vision has brought to life
“a very novel business model that was not the
typical approach that P&G takes.” Shimp at-
tributes Allgood’s success to his willingness
to “be on the ground promoting what he
believes in,” both with P&G leadership and
in countries where PUR is needed. When
Allgood demonstrates PUR in the field, he’s
always the first to take a drink, says Lisa
Jones Christensen, an assistant professor at
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School who’s
writing a case study of the drinking water
project. “He is very hands-on in the field
and seems to have a real heart for this work,”
Christensen says.
Allgood learned the importance of spend-
ing time on the ground from former P&G
CEO John Pepper. “I was lucky enough to
work with him early in my career and learn
that to be a great leader you have to be will-
ing to serve,” Allgood says.
P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water
Project has won numerous awards, including
the Presidential Ron Brown Award for Corpo-
rate Leadership, and Allgood himself in 2007
won the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health’s Center for Communications
Programs Gold Medallion Award.
Allgood says he learned to aim high from
at least one leader from the UNC School of
Public Health — the late Dr. Edward Kuen-
zler, whose research specialized in the study
of lakes, rivers and streams. “He had higher
expectations of me than he did of some other
people, and he let me know that,” Allgood
says. “At first, I thought that was very unfair.
But I learned that as a leader, sometimes you
can motivate someone who is already good
to be even better.” n
– B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Put in time on the ground, and aim high
In 2003, Dr. Greg Allgood asked Procter and Gamble to do something unheard of —
intentionally pursue a product that wasn’t making any money.
A recipe for leadership:
Dr. Greg allgood (above) holds a young Kenyan boy during a June 2007 visit to Kibera — one of africa’s largest slums in Nairobi, Kenya. allgood, director of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Project at Procter & Gamble, was visiting a local women’s group that was educating people on safe drinking water. He earned a master’s in environmental sciences and engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill. (right) allgood visits with rural school children in a September 2006 trip to Haiti. Over the next three years, the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Project will reach one million school children with safe drinking water education and information about PUr packets — sachets of disinfection chemicals that can clean 10 liters of water in minutes.
As a leader, sometimes you can motivate someone who is already good
to be even better.
features & news
24 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
PH
OTO
CO
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OF
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aN
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am
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PH
OTO
CO
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OF
Pr
OC
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aN
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am
BLe
features & news
26 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
A captain in the Commissioned Corps of the
U.S. Public Health Service, Cáceres serves
as team leader for the Centers for Disease
Control’s Field Epidemiology Training Pro-
gram (FETP) in Central America, which
trains epidemiologists to investigate disease
outbreaks and promote public health in six
countries.
Cáceres, who received his medical degree
from the UNC School of Medicine and his
master’s in maternal and child health from
the UNC School of Public Health, is reluc-
tant to call himself a leader, but likes the
concept of servant leadership. “I like that
attitude of a leader as a person developing
others to help them become leaders them-
selves,” he says.
That’s just what Cáceres does in his work
with the FETP. The effort began as one
regional training program managed by 8
Building partnerships to stop disease
Dr. Victor Cáceres is a lot of things: board-certified clinician, researcher, and a field epidemiologist who has investigated disease outbreaks. His
friend and colleague, Dr. Augusto Lopez, says, “Victor’s participation always opens doors instead of closing them.”
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l i l l i a n r i v e r a
Dr. Victor Cáceres poses for a photograph with his wife, Susan, and son, Nicholas. Cáceres is a team leader for the Centers for Disease Control’s Field epidemiology Training Program in Central america, which trains epidemiologists to investigate disease outbreaks and promote public health in six countries. He earned his master’s in maternal and child health from UNC.
Colleagues validate that passion and love of
community. “Her work is truly a calling. She
has dedicated her entire career to improv-
ing the health status of our community and
mentoring others,” says Nancy Humbert, vice
president of strategic business planning and
public affairs for Miami Children’s Hospital.
Rivera’s position includes the oversight
and supervision of public health programs
throughout the county of 2.5 million people.
Over the past several years, she has reorga-
nized the operation of the health depart-
ment following the Malcolm Baldrige model
of performance excellence. Baldrige, U.S.
secretary of commerce from 1981 to 1987,
was a proponent of quality management as
a key to prosperity and long-term strength.
His managerial excellence contributed to
long-term improvement in efficiency and
effectiveness of government and led the U.S.
Congress to name the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Improvement Act of 1987
after him. Baldrige’s criteria for excellence
includes seven areas: leadership; strategic
planning; customer and market focus; mea-
surement, analysis, and knowledge man-
agement; human resource focus; process
management; and results.
“With nearly 1,000 employees, we had to
explain the value of this goal of transforming
our organization and sell our employees on
the process,” says Rivera, a registered nurse
and graduate of the UNC School of Public
Health’s National Public Health Leadership
Institute (see page 7).
The focus on quality worked. Since its re-
organization, the Miami-Dade health depart-
ment has won the Florida Governor’s Sterling
Award for Performance Excellence twice.
“Lillian’s unwavering commitment to
drive and implement a performance excel-
lence model throughout the Miami-Dade
County Health Department resulted in
marked and sustained improvement in key
performance measures across the board,”
says JoAnne Kroesen, director of the Office
of Organizational Development and Public
Health Nursing in the Miami-Dade health
department. “She has the unique ability to
strategically bring all levels of key stakehold-
ers and customer groups together to develop
collaborative partnerships and initiatives
in an effort to improve and resolve public
health issues.”
Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, believes in
helping her staff find training opportunities.
She has sent Miami-Dade health department
teams to attend the School’s Management
Academy for Public Health, a nine-month
executive education program of the North
Carolina Institute for Public Health (see
page 7).
“I believe that collaborative practices
need to be developed and sustained by
leadership,” she says. “Continuous learn-
ing and advancing the performance of our
organizations is essential for viability and
sustainability.” n
– B y B e V H O L T
Develop collaborative practices,
says head of Miami-Dade County Health Department
when you aSk dr. lillian river a, adMiniStr ator of the
MiaMi-dade county (fla.) health departMent, what
the keyS to public health leaderShip are, her anSwer iS Swift
and Sure: paSSion, love for the coMMunity you Serve, and
continuouS learning.
I believe that collaborative practices need to be developed and sustained by leadership.
Dr. Lillian rivera
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 27
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : v i c t o r c á c e r e s
features & news
26 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
A captain in the Commissioned Corps of the
U.S. Public Health Service, Cáceres serves
as team leader for the Centers for Disease
Control’s Field Epidemiology Training Pro-
gram (FETP) in Central America, which
trains epidemiologists to investigate disease
outbreaks and promote public health in six
countries.
Cáceres, who received his medical degree
from the UNC School of Medicine and his
master’s in maternal and child health from
the UNC School of Public Health, is reluc-
tant to call himself a leader, but likes the
concept of servant leadership. “I like that
attitude of a leader as a person developing
others to help them become leaders them-
selves,” he says.
That’s just what Cáceres does in his work
with the FETP. The effort began as one
regional training program managed by 8
Building partnerships to stop disease
Dr. Victor Cáceres is a lot of things: board-certified clinician, researcher, and a field epidemiologist who has investigated disease outbreaks. His
friend and colleague, Dr. Augusto Lopez, says, “Victor’s participation always opens doors instead of closing them.”
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : l i l l i a n r i v e r a
Dr. Victor Cáceres poses for a photograph with his wife, Susan, and son, Nicholas. Cáceres is a team leader for the Centers for Disease Control’s Field epidemiology Training Program in Central america, which trains epidemiologists to investigate disease outbreaks and promote public health in six countries. He earned his master’s in maternal and child health from UNC.
Colleagues validate that passion and love of
community. “Her work is truly a calling. She
has dedicated her entire career to improv-
ing the health status of our community and
mentoring others,” says Nancy Humbert, vice
president of strategic business planning and
public affairs for Miami Children’s Hospital.
Rivera’s position includes the oversight
and supervision of public health programs
throughout the county of 2.5 million people.
Over the past several years, she has reorga-
nized the operation of the health depart-
ment following the Malcolm Baldrige model
of performance excellence. Baldrige, U.S.
secretary of commerce from 1981 to 1987,
was a proponent of quality management as
a key to prosperity and long-term strength.
His managerial excellence contributed to
long-term improvement in efficiency and
effectiveness of government and led the U.S.
Congress to name the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Improvement Act of 1987
after him. Baldrige’s criteria for excellence
includes seven areas: leadership; strategic
planning; customer and market focus; mea-
surement, analysis, and knowledge man-
agement; human resource focus; process
management; and results.
“With nearly 1,000 employees, we had to
explain the value of this goal of transforming
our organization and sell our employees on
the process,” says Rivera, a registered nurse
and graduate of the UNC School of Public
Health’s National Public Health Leadership
Institute (see page 7).
The focus on quality worked. Since its re-
organization, the Miami-Dade health depart-
ment has won the Florida Governor’s Sterling
Award for Performance Excellence twice.
“Lillian’s unwavering commitment to
drive and implement a performance excel-
lence model throughout the Miami-Dade
County Health Department resulted in
marked and sustained improvement in key
performance measures across the board,”
says JoAnne Kroesen, director of the Office
of Organizational Development and Public
Health Nursing in the Miami-Dade health
department. “She has the unique ability to
strategically bring all levels of key stakehold-
ers and customer groups together to develop
collaborative partnerships and initiatives
in an effort to improve and resolve public
health issues.”
Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, believes in
helping her staff find training opportunities.
She has sent Miami-Dade health department
teams to attend the School’s Management
Academy for Public Health, a nine-month
executive education program of the North
Carolina Institute for Public Health (see
page 7).
“I believe that collaborative practices
need to be developed and sustained by
leadership,” she says. “Continuous learn-
ing and advancing the performance of our
organizations is essential for viability and
sustainability.” n
– B y B e V H O L T
Develop collaborative practices,
says head of Miami-Dade County Health Department
when you aSk dr. lillian river a, adMiniStr ator of the
MiaMi-dade county (fla.) health departMent, what
the keyS to public health leaderShip are, her anSwer iS Swift
and Sur e: paSSion, love for the coMMunity you Serve, and
continuouS learning.
I believe that collaborative practices need to be developed and sustained by leadership.
Dr. Lillian rivera
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 27
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : v i c t o r c á c e r e s
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 29
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a l i c e W H i t e
8 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
in partnership with the ministries of health
in the six countries. Gradually, each country
is taking ownership of its own program.
“We’re helping countries build sustainable
programs to improve their public health sys-
tems. We’re doing it in a way that creates self-
sufficiency, and that’s very exciting,” Cáceres
says. “Our role now is finding ways for them
to collaborate, to maintain the quality of
the curriculum, and to work with partners
to see that the elements are in place for these
programs to remain and flourish.” Part of
that effort includes a cooperative agreement
in which the FETP develops curriculum
materials with universities, including UNC-
Chapel Hill, and Dr. Pia MacDonald, research
assistant professor of epidemiology in the
School of Public Health.
Dr. Augusto Lopez, a medical epidemiolo-
gist and regional advisor in FETP who has
worked with Cáceres for about three years,
says the six countries in which FETP operates
often experience changes in government lead-
ership. Through it all, Lopez says that Cáceres
maintains a clear vision that he conveys to
whomever is in charge, and
continually builds bridges
between the CDC, the FETP
offices in each country, and
the ministries of health in
Central America.
Cáceres brings his ability
to see issues from many dif-
ferent perspectives to his job.
“There’s no doubt that the
CDC is a leader in epidemiol-
ogy and public health, but we
also have a lot to learn from
the other countries,” Cáceres says. “There’s a
lot of give-and-take and back-and-forth, con-
stant interaction and problem-solving.”
It doesn’t hurt that Cáceres knows Cen-
tral America well; his parents emigrated
from Honduras two months before he was
born. He visited there often as a child and
still has extended family there.
Cáceres also knows what it’s like for epi-
demiologists learning to work in the field.
From 1995 to 1997, he served as a member
of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service,
on which the FETP is modeled. Cáceres was
part of a group that traced a South Caro-
lina outbreak of Cyclospora (a pathogen
that causes diarrheal illness) to raspberries
imported from Guatemala. He ended up
traveling to Guatemala to find the source of
the outbreak and talking with farmers who
were understandably skeptical.
In addition, over several years, Cáceres
applied his team-building approach to eradi-
cating polio. “He has contributed greatly to
polio eradication by taking leadership in the
research area,” says Roland Sutter, director
of research and product development for
polio eradication at the World Health Orga-
nization. Sutter points to Cáceres’ persever-
ance and diplomacy in implementing a study
of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in Cuba.
Unlike other developing countries, Cuba
has eradicated polio and doesn’t routinely
give the oral vaccine, which is made of an
attenuated live virus. That made Cuba a per-
fect testing ground to find out if the alterna-
tive, IPV, will really be effective once polio is
eradicated and the oral vaccine phased out.
“We were able to show the IPV worked in the
polio-free environment,” Cáceres says. The
Cuba IPV study was published in 2007 in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
For Cáceres, the partnerships he forms
in every aspect of his work aren’t just about
playing nice; they’re necessary to ensure
global health. “As the world becomes more
of a global community, it’s the relationship-
building that we do in our work that will
enable the countries to form teams in re-
sponding to a major pandemic,” Cáceres
says. “That goodwill is capital that’s hard to
measure but extremely important because it
will help us when we have to unite against a
disease threat.” n
— B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Dr. Victor Cáceres gives an oral polio vaccine to a young girl in the Dominican republic as part of a response to an outbreak of polio in that country in 2000.
As the world becomes more of a global community, it’s the relationship building that
we do in our work that will enable the countries to form teams in responding
to a major pandemic.
That’s where pharmaceutical epidemiolo-
gists like Dr. Alice White come in. White,
who has a doctorate in epidemiology from
Carolina’s School of Public Health, is vice
president of Worldwide Epidemiology at
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). She leads a team
of about 70 GSK epidemiologists and data
analysts in North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
London, Brazil, Japan and Singapore.
“My department is about diseases, not
drugs,” she says. “We help the company and
industry understand diseases at the popula-
tion level. When they’re making decisions
about drug discovery and development, they
need to know who the patients are and how
the disease is affecting them.”
She didn’t start off planning to be a
scholar with global executive responsibilities.
In fact, White left college and moved with her
husband to Pinehurst, N.C., to raise horses.
But by 1977, she found herself a single mother
working as a secretary. She was challenged
financially but not intellectually. Determined
to improve her situation, she applied to UNC
and moved to Carrboro to complete work on
her bachelor’s degree in psychology. Later,
she enrolled in the School of Public Health to
study epidemiology and became an assistant
professor after graduation.
In 1990, she joined Burroughs Wellcome
(now GSK), focusing on the epidemiology of
HIV infection.
Today, White and other GSK epidemiolo-
gists assess the spread and characteristics of
obesity, Type II diabetes, cancers and psy-
chiatric diseases around the world, as well
as autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid
arthritis and lupus.
“We start there, studying the disease in
the real world,” she says, “but epidemiolo-
gists are now involved in so many levels of
the process.”
Once, the primary role of pharmaceutical
epidemiologists was to assess how medicines
were being used after they were out in the
market, she says.
Clinical trials measure use in a very con-
trolled population, but once medicines are
available in the “real world,” epidemiologists
track how they are used, by whom and with
what results, she explains. “Epidemiologists
apply methods to the data available and look
at the risks associated with use of the drug,”
she adds. “It goes deeper and broader than
what you learn just from spontaneous (side
effect) reports.”
This role is still critical, but the role of
epidemiologists is expanding, she says.
While GSK and most other major phar-
maceutical companies are downsizing, her
department has expanded from 20 people
in 2000 to 75 now.
“The biggest challenge we’re facing to-
day,” she says, “is the appropriate use of
patient data. So much is available now,
with electronic medical records and other
computer-based ways of collecting data. But
we have to look at quality control and stan-
dardized approaches to make sense of the
data — to make it really meaningful.”
White was instrumental in GSK’s $3 mil-
lion gift to the School of Public Health in
2003 to establish the UNC-GSK Center for
Excellence in Pharmacoepidemiology and
Public Health (see page 60).
“The key is understanding diseases,” she
says. “Epidemiology is about populations
— about public health — much more than
just about medicines. It’s a foundation GSK
recognizes is critical to the process.” n
— B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Assessing what happens in the real world,
Epidemiologists provide compass for pharmaceutical research
before phar Maceutical coMpanieS decide where to focuS
reSearch, they want to know what the unMet needS are.
they want to know about the diSeaSeS — and the patientS —
they hope to treat.
Dr. alice White is vice president of Worldwide epidemiology at GlaxoSmithKline. She holds a doctorate in epidemiology from Carolina.
features & news
28 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Dr. alice White
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : v i c t o r c á c e r e s
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 29
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a l i c e W H i t e
8 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
in partnership with the ministries of health
in the six countries. Gradually, each country
is taking ownership of its own program.
“We’re helping countries build sustainable
programs to improve their public health sys-
tems. We’re doing it in a way that creates self-
sufficiency, and that’s very exciting,” Cáceres
says. “Our role now is finding ways for them
to collaborate, to maintain the quality of
the curriculum, and to work with partners
to see that the elements are in place for these
programs to remain and flourish.” Part of
that effort includes a cooperative agreement
in which the FETP develops curriculum
materials with universities, including UNC-
Chapel Hill, and Dr. Pia McDonald, research
assistant professor of epidemiology in the
School of Public Health.
Dr. Augusto Lopez, a medical epidemiolo-
gist and regional advisor in FETP who has
worked with Cáceres for about three years,
says the six countries in which FETP operates
often experience changes in government lead-
ership. Through it all, Lopez says that Cáceres
maintains a clear vision that he conveys to
whomever is in charge, and
continually builds bridges
between the CDC, the FETP
offices in each country, and
the ministries of health in
Central America.
Cáceres brings his ability
to see issues from many dif-
ferent perspectives to his job.
“There’s no doubt that the
CDC is a leader in epidemiol-
ogy and public health, but we
also have a lot to learn from
the other countries,” Cáceres says. “There’s a
lot of give-and-take and back-and-forth, con-
stant interaction and problem-solving.”
It doesn’t hurt that Cáceres knows Cen-
tral America well; his parents emigrated
from Honduras two months before he was
born. He visited there often as a child and
still has extended family there.
Cáceres also knows what it’s like for epi-
demiologists learning to work in the field.
From 1995 to 1997, he served as a member
of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service,
on which the FETP is modeled. Cáceres was
part of a group that traced a South Caro-
lina outbreak of Cyclospora (a pathogen
that causes diarrheal illness) to raspberries
imported from Guatemala. He ended up
traveling to Guatemala to find the source of
the outbreak and talking with farmers who
were understandably skeptical.
In addition, over several years, Cáceres
applied his team-building approach to eradi-
cating polio. “He has contributed greatly to
polio eradication by taking leadership in the
research area,” says Roland Sutter, director
of research and product development for
polio eradication at the World Health Orga-
nization. Sutter points to Cáceres’ persever-
ance and diplomacy in implementing a study
of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in Cuba.
Unlike other developing countries, Cuba
has eradicated polio and doesn’t routinely
give the oral vaccine, which is made of an
attenuated live virus. That made Cuba a per-
fect testing ground to find out if the alterna-
tive, IPV, will really be effective once polio is
eradicated and the oral vaccine phased out.
“We were able to show the IPV worked in the
polio-free environment,” Cáceres says. The
Cuba IPV study was published in 2007 in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
For Cáceres, the partnerships he forms
in every aspect of his work aren’t just about
playing nice; they’re necessary to ensure
global health. “As the world becomes more
of a global community, it’s the relationship-
building that we do in our work that will
enable the countries to form teams in re-
sponding to a major pandemic,” Cáceres
says. “That goodwill is capital that’s hard to
measure but extremely important because it
will help us when we have to unite against a
disease threat.” n
— B y a N G e L a S P i V e y
Dr. Victor Cáceres gives an oral polio vaccine to a young girl in the Dominican republic as part of a response to an outbreak of polio in that country in 2000.
As the world becomes more of a global community, it’s the relationship building that
we do in our work that will enable the countries to form teams in responding
to a major pandemic.
That’s where pharmaceutical epidemiolo-
gists like Dr. Alice White come in. White,
who has a doctorate in epidemiology from
Carolina’s School of Public Health, is vice
president of Worldwide Epidemiology at
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). She leads a team
of about 70 GSK epidemiologists and data
analysts in North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
London, Brazil, Japan and Singapore.
“My department is about diseases, not
drugs,” she says. “We help the company and
industry understand diseases at the popula-
tion level. When they’re making decisions
about drug discovery and development, they
need to know who the patients are and how
the disease is affecting them.”
She didn’t start off planning to be a
scholar with global executive responsibilities.
In fact, White left college and moved with her
husband to Pinehurst, N.C., to raise horses.
But by 1977, she found herself a single mother
working as a secretary. She was challenged
financially but not intellectually. Determined
to improve her situation, she applied to UNC
and moved to Carrboro to complete work on
her bachelor’s degree in psychology. Later,
she enrolled in the School of Public Health to
study epidemiology and became an assistant
professor after graduation.
In 1990, she joined Burroughs Wellcome
(now GSK), focusing on the epidemiology of
HIV infection.
Today, White and other GSK epidemiolo-
gists assess the spread and characteristics of
obesity, Type II diabetes, cancers and psy-
chiatric diseases around the world, as well
as autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid
arthritis and lupus.
“We start there, studying the disease in
the real world,” she says, “but epidemiolo-
gists are now involved in so many levels of
the process.”
Once, the primary role of pharmaceutical
epidemiologists was to assess how medicines
were being used after they were out in the
market, she says.
Clinical trials measure use in a very con-
trolled population, but once medicines are
available in the “real world,” epidemiologists
track how they are used, by whom and with
what results, she explains. “Epidemiologists
apply methods to the data available and look
at the risks associated with use of the drug,”
she adds. “It goes deeper and broader than
what you learn just from spontaneous (side
effect) reports.”
This role is still critical, but the role of
epidemiologists is expanding, she says.
While GSK and most other major phar-
maceutical companies are downsizing, her
department has expanded from 20 people
in 2000 to 75 now.
“The biggest challenge we’re facing to-
day,” she says, “is the appropriate use of
patient data. So much is available now,
with electronic medical records and other
computer-based ways of collecting data. But
we have to look at quality control and stan-
dardized approaches to make sense of the
data — to make it really meaningful.”
White was instrumental in GSK’s $3 mil-
lion gift to the School of Public Health in
2003 to establish the UNC-GSK Center for
Excellence in Pharmacoepidemiology and
Public Health (see page 60).
“The key is understanding diseases,” she
says. “Epidemiology is about populations
— about public health — much more than
just about medicines. It’s a foundation GSK
recognizes is critical to the process.” n
— B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
Assessing what happens in the real world,
Epidemiologists provide compass for pharmaceutical research
before phar Maceutical coMpanieS decide where to focuS
reSearch, they want to know what the unMet needS are.
they want to know about the diSeaSeS — and the patientS —
they hope to treat.
Dr. alice White is vice president of Worldwide epidemiology at GlaxoSmithKline. She holds a doctorate in epidemiology from Carolina.
features & news
28 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Dr. alice White
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : v i c t o r c á c e r e s
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 31
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : d o n H o l z W o r t H
Holzworth has been thinking a lot about
passion and how it relates to his success and
the success of others. This thinking is not
just an exercise for him. It is how he lives
his life.
In the early stages of writing a book
about leadership for small business owners
and embarking on new philanthropic and
strategic ventures, this self-described Type
A personality is convinced now more than
ever that a burning desire to pursue a vision
is perhaps one of the most important traits
a leader can have.
“For me, the responsibility of a leader is to
create a gap between what everyone thinks
and does today and what you want them to
be thinking or doing tomorrow,” he says.
“Passion allows the leader to create that gap,
and people begin to naturally follow the new
thinking because the passion and the new
thinking are compelling.”
Jesse Milan Jr., senior principal for health
policy and promotion at the SRA Constella
Group, says, “I’ve seen Don test the waters
by exposing his own passion in front of oth-
ers, and I’ve seen the remarkable response
it generated. People truly appreciate leaders
who are open and honest about what moti-
vates them.”
Holzworth says he’s always been intense,
even during his formative years growing up
in Illinois. But it wasn’t until mid-career that
he began expressing the motivation behind
his drive.
“I’m passionate about what I do because
of my father, who was a general practitio-
ner,” Holzworth says. “He didn’t make a lot
of money, and didn’t seem to mind. He was
devoted to healing people. The meaning he
brought to my life was enhanced midway
through my career. At that point, I saw
clearly that I really wanted to do something
to improve the health of people around the
world.”
When he did open up and share about
his father’s work, something interesting and
valuable happened to him.
“I’d find people coming up to me sharing
their own health-related experiences after I
told them about my father,” says Holzworth,
who with his wife Jennifer, has two children,
Chelsea and David. “Whether it was their
own parents involved in medicine or a sister
who died of breast cancer, they shared their
lives with me. I think it made a real differ-
ence. I think it made me more believable as
a leader. It also made being a leader more
interesting. I felt connected to people.”
That believability, Holzworth says, con-
tributed to the company’s success. Stitching
together a number of diverse companies, he
quickly built Constella, one of the most prof-
itable and fastest growing health services
companies in the United States, garnering
financial and professional rewards along the
way, including several Ernst & Young En-
trepreneur of the Year™ awards. Constella,
now a division of SRA International, Inc.,
operates in 60 countries and is on the cutting
edge of health initiatives being implemented
worldwide. His vision — to provide govern-
mental and commercial clients with a wide
range of health services — has worked, and
Holzworth says his passion made it happen.
It wasn’t without a price. Holzworth says
some people, including employees, didn’t al-
ways buy into his vision. He also experienced
the pangs of sometimes overwhelming or
scaring people with his grand ideas.
“Passion in that case can be a burden, “he
says. “Sometimes you have to back away,
engage with people and have real empathy
for where they are. It’s all part of being
vulnerable — to not be afraid to say that you
don’t know something or to expose your
own weaknesses. I do this, even when it is
hard for me to do.”
A strategy Holzworth implemented to
drive results was to consciously disrupt
things when business was good. He would,
for example, seek out and make another
acquisition or even bring in a new executive
with a different way of thinking.
“At the beginning of every year, I told my
employees that our business was not going
to be the same a year later,” he says. “I felt it
was better to communicate that than not. It
was a little bit of tonic, but I did it because I
knew that change is hard.”
If change is Holzworth’s engine for ac-
complishment, then passion continues to be
the high-octane fuel. As a result of the merger
with SRA, Holzworth no longer runs day-to-
day operations as a chief executive officer.
Instead, the senior vice president now pursues
more strategic opportunities for SRA and
Constella, such as finding new markets, le-
veraging current customers and finding gaps
in the markets to fill. He’s also focusing on
helping more people through philanthropic
and nonprofit endeavors, both in the United
States and Africa. One of his goals is to con-
tinue to help the School of Public Health. As
a member of the School’s Advisory Council,
Holzworth has been instrumental in helping
fund the DrPH program in the School’s De-
partment of Health Policy and Administra-
tion (see pages 6 and 32).
Holzworth and his wife Jennifer also have
created endowed scholarships for doctoral
students in health policy at the School of
Public Health. The scholarships are named
in honor of their fathers, Arthur B. Holz-
worth and Charles A. Zeatch.
“I’m absolutely passionate about what
I want to do right now,” says Holzworth,
“and I’m looking forward to fulfilling that
passion. My intention is to continue to make
a difference in the lives of people. In that
respect, I’m very lucky to be able to do dif-
ferent things.” n
– B y G e N e P i N D e r
Passion moves people to do great things.Just ask Don Holzworth, senior vice president
and director of strategy for SRA International, Inc., and founder and former chairman and CEO of Constella Group, a global professional health ser-vices company.
Don Holzworth is senior vice president and director of strategy for Sra international, inc., and founder and former chairman and CeO of Constella Group. He is a member of the UNC School of Public Health’s advisory Council and has been instrumental in helping fund the DrPH program in the School’s Department of Health Policy and administration.
How one
executive
fuels progress
both here
and abroad
The responsibility of a leader is to create a gap between what everyone thinks and does
today and what you want them to be thinking or doing tomorrow.
Health Transforming
PassionateLeadership
through
features & news
30 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Don Holzworth
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 31
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : d o n H o l z W o r t H
Holzworth has been thinking a lot about
passion and how it relates to his success and
the success of others. This thinking is not
just an exercise for him. It is how he lives
his life.
In the early stages of writing a book
about leadership for small business owners
and embarking on new philanthropic and
strategic ventures, this self-described Type
A personality is convinced now more than
ever that a burning desire to pursue a vision
is perhaps one of the most important traits
a leader can have.
“For me, the responsibility of a leader is to
create a gap between what everyone thinks
and does today and what you want them to
be thinking or doing tomorrow,” he says.
“Passion allows the leader to create that gap,
and people begin to naturally follow the new
thinking because the passion and the new
thinking are compelling.”
Jesse Milan Jr., senior principal for health
policy and promotion at the SRA Constella
Group, says, “I’ve seen Don test the waters
by exposing his own passion in front of oth-
ers, and I’ve seen the remarkable response
it generated. People truly appreciate leaders
who are open and honest about what moti-
vates them.”
Holzworth says he’s always been intense,
even during his formative years growing up
in Illinois. But it wasn’t until mid-career that
he began expressing the motivation behind
his drive.
“I’m passionate about what I do because
of my father, who was a general practitio-
ner,” Holzworth says. “He didn’t make a lot
of money, and didn’t seem to mind. He was
devoted to healing people. The meaning he
brought to my life was enhanced midway
through my career. At that point, I saw
clearly that I really wanted to do something
to improve the health of people around the
world.”
When he did open up and share about
his father’s work, something interesting and
valuable happened to him.
“I’d find people coming up to me sharing
their own health-related experiences after I
told them about my father,” says Holzworth,
who with his wife Jennifer, has two children,
Chelsea and David. “Whether it was their
own parents involved in medicine or a sister
who died of breast cancer, they shared their
lives with me. I think it made a real differ-
ence. I think it made me more believable as
a leader. It also made being a leader more
interesting. I felt connected to people.”
That believability, Holzworth says, con-
tributed to the company’s success. Stitching
together a number of diverse companies, he
quickly built Constella, one of the most prof-
itable and fastest growing health services
companies in the United States, garnering
financial and professional rewards along the
way, including several Ernst & Young En-
trepreneur of the Year™ awards. Constella,
now a division of SRA International, Inc.,
operates in 60 countries and is on the cutting
edge of health initiatives being implemented
worldwide. His vision — to provide govern-
mental and commercial clients with a wide
range of health services — has worked, and
Holzworth says his passion made it happen.
It wasn’t without a price. Holzworth says
some people, including employees, didn’t al-
ways buy into his vision. He also experienced
the pangs of sometimes overwhelming or
scaring people with his grand ideas.
“Passion in that case can be a burden, “he
says. “Sometimes you have to back away,
engage with people and have real empathy
for where they are. It’s all part of being
vulnerable — to not be afraid to say that you
don’t know something or to expose your
own weaknesses. I do this, even when it is
hard for me to do.”
A strategy Holzworth implemented to
drive results was to consciously disrupt
things when business was good. He would,
for example, seek out and make another
acquisition or even bring in a new executive
with a different way of thinking.
“At the beginning of every year, I told my
employees that our business was not going
to be the same a year later,” he says. “I felt it
was better to communicate that than not. It
was a little bit of tonic, but I did it because I
knew that change is hard.”
If change is Holzworth’s engine for ac-
complishment, then passion continues to be
the high-octane fuel. As a result of the merger
with SRA, Holzworth no longer runs day-to-
day operations as a chief executive officer.
Instead, the senior vice president now pursues
more strategic opportunities for SRA and
Constella, such as finding new markets, le-
veraging current customers and finding gaps
in the markets to fill. He’s also focusing on
helping more people through philanthropic
and nonprofit endeavors, both in the United
States and Africa. One of his goals is to con-
tinue to help the School of Public Health. As
a member of the School’s Advisory Council,
Holzworth has been instrumental in helping
fund the DrPH program in the School’s De-
partment of Health Policy and Administra-
tion (see pages 6 and 32).
Holzworth and his wife Jennifer also have
created endowed scholarships for doctoral
students in health policy at the School of
Public Health. The scholarships are named
in honor of their fathers, Arthur B. Holz-
worth and Charles A. Zeatch.
“I’m absolutely passionate about what
I want to do right now,” says Holzworth,
“and I’m looking forward to fulfilling that
passion. My intention is to continue to make
a difference in the lives of people. In that
respect, I’m very lucky to be able to do dif-
ferent things.” n
– B y G e N e P i N D e r
Passion moves people to do great things.Just ask Don Holzworth, senior vice president
and director of strategy for SRA International, Inc., and founder and former chairman and CEO of Constella Group, a global professional health ser-vices company.
Don Holzworth is senior vice president and director of strategy for Sra international, inc., and founder and former chairman and CeO of Constella Group. He is a member of the UNC School of Public Health’s advisory Council and has been instrumental in helping fund the DrPH program in the School’s Department of Health Policy and administration.
How one
executive
fuels progress
both here
and abroad
The responsibility of a leader is to create a gap between what everyone thinks and does
today and what you want them to be thinking or doing tomorrow.
Health Transforming
PassionateLeadership
through
features & news
30 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Don Holzworth
features & news
32 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 33
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a a r o n b l a i r
self-described strategic thinker and likes to
plan two, three and even four steps ahead
while playing with different future scenar-
ios. So you’d think her career trajectory was
carefully plotted. There’s only one problem.
You’d be wrong.
Bates never set out to be a leader. In fact,
she originally found her calling as a policy
analyst with the national Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta
shortly after getting her master’s in public
health from UNC in health behavior and ed-
ucation. Reserved by nature, Bates originally
felt more comfortable listening carefully to
others in group settings than speaking up.
She was, after all, often the youngest person
in the meetings.
But then something started happening.
When she did speak, people listened, espe-
cially since her comments were insightful,
thoughtful and precise. Eventually, her
colleagues started coming to her for advice
and counsel. In other words, Bates found
herself growing into a leadership role, and
she enjoyed it.
Bates is one of nine members of the first
cohort in the School’s distance learning
Executive Doctoral Program in Health
Leadership. She and her classmates have just
completed two years of coursework and are
now completing dissertations that will cul-
minate this year with DrPH degrees.
“These are highly accomplished indi-
viduals with proven leadership capacity and
incredible passion for what they do,” says Dr.
Suzanne Havala Hobbs, director of the pro-
gram. “Once they leave our executive DrPH
program, look for them in top positions of
leadership in the U.S. and around the world
working to improve the health of all people.”
The program is the nation’s first doc-
torate in health leadership (DrPH) degree
that students can earn while taking all of
their classes online from their homes or
offices (see page 6). It is designed for work-
ing professionals in mid-career who have
the capacity and drive to assume top posi-
tions in organizations working to improve
the public’s health. Generous funding for
technical support and student financial aid
for the program is provided by The Con-
stella Group. Don Holzworth, senior vice
president and director of strategy for SRA
International, Inc., and founder and former
chairman and CEO of Constella Group, has
been instrumental in helping fund the DrPH
program (see pages 6 and 30). For more
information on the program, see www.sph.
unc.edu/hpaa/executive_drph.
In describing Bates’ leadership style, Dr.
Nils Daulaire, president and CEO of the
Global Health Council says: “In Washington,
there are generally two sets of characters: the
operatives and the strategists. The former
know who’s who and what it takes to move
from point A to point B in the messy world
of politics. The latter have the big picture in
mind, a clear sense of what ultimately needs
to be accomplished and a deep understand-
ing of the substantive issues. Nicole is highly
unusual and extraordinarily valuable in that
nicole bateS SeeMS to be Mov ing quick ly up the public
he a lth le a derShip l a dder. the cur r ent dir ector of
gov er nMent r el ationS for the globa l he a lth cou ncil iS a
Facilitating dialogue and translating stakeholder buy-in into action is something
that strong leaders do well.
Growing into Leadership
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : n i c o l e b a t e s
she combines both attributes, and does so in
a low-key, self-effacing style that leaves ev-
eryone feeling that they have been heard and
that their own interests have been served.
She not only holds promise for a remarkable
future, she is already a key player in moving
the global health agenda forward in ways
that serve our entire community.”
Bates leads a four-person team at the
Washington, D.C.-based Global Health
Council. Responsible for developing and
implementing a strategy to convince poli-
cymakers and opinion leaders to put more
resources towards global health initiatives,
Bates applies newly learned leadership les-
sons to the many ongoing challenges she and
her team face. One of her biggest challenges?
Finding enough common ground to move
the global health agenda forward.
“My team and I spend our days work-
ing to convince an incredibly diverse set of
stakeholders that our priority is their prior-
ity,” she says. “It’s not easy. In a single issue,
for example, we have to identify elements
that resonate with different audiences, yet
preserve the issue’s overall integrity.”
Bates says this policy tension has brought
out what she considers one of her signature
leadership traits — the ability to focus and
synthesize differences into a shared plat-
form, especially when others are all over the
map with their specific agendas.
“When I step back, I realize that facilitat-
ing dialogue and translating stakeholder
buy-in into action is something that strong
leaders do well,” she says. “Given my work,
I have the opportunity to refine that skill
almost daily.”
Somehow boundaries don’t seem to fit
into any description of Nicole Bates, not
when she’s still learning, improving — and,
most importantly of all, growing into her
leadership role. You’d think she had planned
it that way, but of course you’d be wrong. n
— B y G e N e P i N D e r
Problem was, Blair’s undergraduate and
master’s degrees were in botany, and his
doctorate was in genetics. To learn about
human physiology, he chose to attend the
UNC School of Public Health.
That decision changed the course of his
professional life and gave the study of cancer
one of its most accomplished advocates.
Once at UNC, Blair became hooked
on epidemiology. He earned his master’s
degree from the School in 1976 and went
on to pursue a career in public health that
culminated as chief of the Occupational and
Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the
National Cancer Institute (NCI) for more
than 25 years.
At NCI, Blair oversaw the expansion
of the branch from four investigators to
more than 30. He was among the first to
revolutionize the study of occupational
epidemiology by introducing quantitative
and molecular methods of assessing
exposure to environmental hazards. His
work on case studies among farmers in the
Midwest pointed to the role of pesticides and
agricultural chemicals in the high incidence
of specific types of cancer among the farmer
populations. That effort led to the large-scale
Agricultural Health Study he pioneered,
which measured various health outcomes
over a 15-year period among agricultural
workers in Iowa and North Carolina.
Over the years, Blair has been the recipient
of numerous awards, including the School’s
2007 Barr Distinguished Alumni Award for
contributions to public health; the National
Institutes of Health Director’s Award; and
the John Goldsmith Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Epidemiology, for his work
on occupational and environmental causes
of cancer.
“The UNC School of Public Health is a
very high-caliber and prestigious school,”
Blair notes, adding that the expertise of sci-
entists at the School and the resources avail-
able to students and faculty “come together
in helping to further an individual career.”
Blair retired as branch chief at the NCI in
2006. An avid golfer, he now divides his time
between academic pursuits, golf and his four
grandchildren. n
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
School alum revolutionizes study of occupational epidemiologydr. aaron blair’S firSt taSte of public health caMe froM an
unlikely quarter. while working aS a lecturer in 1973 at
Saint andrewS preSbyterian college in laurinburg, n.c., he
waS aSked to teach a courSe in huMan anatoMy and phySiology.
Nicole Bates
Dr. aaron Blair
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 33
features & news
32 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 33
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a a r o n b l a i r
self-described strategic thinker and likes to
plan two, three and even four steps ahead
while playing with different future scenar-
ios. So you’d think her career trajectory was
carefully plotted. There’s only one problem.
You’d be wrong.
Bates never set out to be a leader. In fact,
she originally found her calling as a policy
analyst with the national Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta
shortly after getting her master’s in public
health from UNC in health behavior and ed-
ucation. Reserved by nature, Bates originally
felt more comfortable listening carefully to
others in group settings than speaking up.
She was, after all, often the youngest person
in the meetings.
But then something started happening.
When she did speak, people listened, espe-
cially since her comments were insightful,
thoughtful and precise. Eventually, her
colleagues started coming to her for advice
and counsel. In other words, Bates found
herself growing into a leadership role, and
she enjoyed it.
Bates is one of nine members of the first
cohort in the School’s distance learning
Executive Doctoral Program in Health
Leadership. She and her classmates have just
completed two years of coursework and are
now completing dissertations that will cul-
minate this year with DrPH degrees.
“These are highly accomplished indi-
viduals with proven leadership capacity and
incredible passion for what they do,” says Dr.
Suzanne Havala Hobbs, director of the pro-
gram. “Once they leave our executive DrPH
program, look for them in top positions of
leadership in the U.S. and around the world
working to improve the health of all people.”
The program is the nation’s first doc-
torate in health leadership (DrPH) degree
that students can earn while taking all of
their classes online from their homes or
offices (see page 6). It is designed for work-
ing professionals in mid-career who have
the capacity and drive to assume top posi-
tions in organizations working to improve
the public’s health. Generous funding for
technical support and student financial aid
for the program is provided by The Con-
stella Group. Don Holzworth, senior vice
president and director of strategy for SRA
International, Inc., and founder and former
chairman and CEO of Constella Group, has
been instrumental in helping fund the DrPH
program (see pages 6 and 30). For more
information on the program, see www.sph.
unc.edu/hpaa/executive_drph.
In describing Bates’ leadership style, Dr.
Nils Daulaire, president and CEO of the
Global Health Council says: “In Washington,
there are generally two sets of characters: the
operatives and the strategists. The former
know who’s who and what it takes to move
from point A to point B in the messy world
of politics. The latter have the big picture in
mind, a clear sense of what ultimately needs
to be accomplished and a deep understand-
ing of the substantive issues. Nicole is highly
unusual and extraordinarily valuable in that
nicole bateS SeeMS to be Mov ing quick ly up the public
he a lth le a derShip l a dder. the cur r ent dir ector of
gov er nMent r el ationS for the globa l he a lth cou ncil iS a
Facilitating dialogue and translating stakeholder buy-in into action is something
that strong leaders do well.
Growing into Leadership
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : n i c o l e b a t e s
she combines both attributes, and does so in
a low-key, self-effacing style that leaves ev-
eryone feeling that they have been heard and
that their own interests have been served.
She not only holds promise for a remarkable
future, she is already a key player in moving
the global health agenda forward in ways
that serve our entire community.”
Bates leads a four-person team at the
Washington, D.C.-based Global Health
Council. Responsible for developing and
implementing a strategy to convince poli-
cymakers and opinion leaders to put more
resources towards global health initiatives,
Bates applies newly learned leadership les-
sons to the many ongoing challenges she and
her team face. One of her biggest challenges?
Finding enough common ground to move
the global health agenda forward.
“My team and I spend our days work-
ing to convince an incredibly diverse set of
stakeholders that our priority is their prior-
ity,” she says. “It’s not easy. In a single issue,
for example, we have to identify elements
that resonate with different audiences, yet
preserve the issue’s overall integrity.”
Bates says this policy tension has brought
out what she considers one of her signature
leadership traits — the ability to focus and
synthesize differences into a shared plat-
form, especially when others are all over the
map with their specific agendas.
“When I step back, I realize that facilitat-
ing dialogue and translating stakeholder
buy-in into action is something that strong
leaders do well,” she says. “Given my work,
I have the opportunity to refine that skill
almost daily.”
Somehow boundaries don’t seem to fit
into any description of Nicole Bates, not
when she’s still learning, improving — and,
most importantly of all, growing into her
leadership role. You’d think she had planned
it that way, but of course you’d be wrong. n
— B y G e N e P i N D e r
Problem was, Blair’s undergraduate and
master’s degrees were in botany, and his
doctorate was in genetics. To learn about
human physiology, he chose to attend the
UNC School of Public Health.
That decision changed the course of his
professional life and gave the study of cancer
one of its most accomplished advocates.
Once at UNC, Blair became hooked
on epidemiology. He earned his master’s
degree from the School in 1976 and went
on to pursue a career in public health that
culminated as chief of the Occupational and
Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the
National Cancer Institute (NCI) for more
than 25 years.
At NCI, Blair oversaw the expansion
of the branch from four investigators to
more than 30. He was among the first to
revolutionize the study of occupational
epidemiology by introducing quantitative
and molecular methods of assessing
exposure to environmental hazards. His
work on case studies among farmers in the
Midwest pointed to the role of pesticides and
agricultural chemicals in the high incidence
of specific types of cancer among the farmer
populations. That effort led to the large-scale
Agricultural Health Study he pioneered,
which measured various health outcomes
over a 15-year period among agricultural
workers in Iowa and North Carolina.
Over the years, Blair has been the recipient
of numerous awards, including the School’s
2007 Barr Distinguished Alumni Award for
contributions to public health; the National
Institutes of Health Director’s Award; and
the John Goldsmith Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Epidemiology, for his work
on occupational and environmental causes
of cancer.
“The UNC School of Public Health is a
very high-caliber and prestigious school,”
Blair notes, adding that the expertise of sci-
entists at the School and the resources avail-
able to students and faculty “come together
in helping to further an individual career.”
Blair retired as branch chief at the NCI in
2006. An avid golfer, he now divides his time
between academic pursuits, golf and his four
grandchildren. n
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
School alum revolutionizes study of occupational epidemiologydr. aaron blair’S firSt taSte of public health caMe froM an
unlikely quarter. while working aS a lecturer in 1973 at
Saint andrewS preSbyterian college in laurinburg, n.c., he
waS aSked to teach a courSe in huMan anatoMy and phySiology.
Nicole Bates
Dr. aaron Blair
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 33
features & news
34 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 35
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : ly n n m o u d e n
As the director of the Arkansas Health De-
partment’s Office of Oral Health, this UNC
School of Public Health graduate has seen
his share of concerned citizens questioning
the statewide effort to fluoridate the water.
“You’re not going to convince some of
them. They work on emotion, not science,”
says Mouden, who earned his doctor of dental
surgery at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City in 1975 and his master’s in health policy
and administration from Carolina in 1994.
Instead, Mouden and his four-person staff
have concentrated on crisscrossing the state,
meeting with local officials, one community
at a time. In fact, he says he’s been to more
city council meetings than he can remember.
But the work is paying off. Local water system
participation was at 49 percent when he ar-
rived. It’s now at 64 percent and getting closer
all the time to the 75 percent goal.
Mouden’s accomplishments look all the
more impressive considering he started in
Arkansas in 1999 with no budget or staff. Us-
ing his savvy political and leadership skills,
he aligned himself with supportive legislators
who developed and passed a statute requiring
the state oral health program. He also built a
coalition of 38 organizations and nonprofit
groups to advocate for oral health.
“All of that has been significant because
we’ve been able to continue despite several
major budget crises and two departmental
reorganizations,” he says.
Mouden, however, is perhaps best known
for a national and international program
called PANDA — Prevent Abuse and Neglect
through Dental Awareness. PANDA trains
dentists and other health professionals to
recognize victims of family violence and
provide appropriate intervention.
“Seventy-five percent of all physical abuse
signs occur in the head, neck and mouth
areas,” says Mouden. “And yet, less than
one percent of dentists were responsible for
reporting such abuse.”
Mouden’s interest in family violence was
strengthened at UNC while taking courses
in the School of Public Health’s executive
master’s program. However, it was seeing and
reporting actual cases of abuse while he was a
practicing dentist in the small Missouri town
of Weston that really got his attention.
“At one point, I talked to dentists from
other towns in the state and asked if they
were seeing what I was seeing, and they said
they weren’t,” he says. “That got me think-
ing. Why am I seeing it in Weston and it
wasn’t being seen anywhere else?”
He discovered that abuse wasn’t re-
ally more prevalent in Weston but that
dentists in other towns were missing the
signs in their young patients. So, joining
forces with a dental benefits carrier, Delta
Dental of Missouri, Mouden developed the
educational material for PANDA and started
spreading the word.
“I just took it upon myself to make it a
personal mission.”
Now with 45 state and 12 international
programs, PANDA has proven to be the
driving force behind dentists and others do-
ing a better job of recognizing and reporting
abuse and neglect.
“We are truly blessed to have Lynn Moud-
en’s experience and capabilities as our leader
in improving oral health for all Arkansans,”
says Ed Choate, president and chief executive
officer of Delta Dental of Arkansas. “Through
his efforts, we have greater awareness, under-
standing and oral health treatment for those
most in need in our state.”
There’s no slowing this high achiever.
Mouden has continued to expand the
PANDA program, both in the United States
and abroad, and to promote a “train the
trainers” component to the program that
he developed largely during his annual leave
time. Mouden says it’s worth it, knowing he’s
helped save lives. n
– B y G e N e P i N D e r
Alum spearheads Arkansas’ water fluoridation efforts; founds PANDA program to train dentists worldwide to recognize and report abuse
Know how to recognize child abuse and neglect
Dr. Lynn mouden is the founder of the international program, PaNDa — Prevent abuse and Neglect through Dental awareness. The program trains dentists and other health professionals to recognize victims of family violence and provide appropriate intervention. mouden is director of the arkansas Health Department’s Office of Oral Health and holds a master’s in health policy and administration from UNC.
Dr. Lynn Mouden has been called a commu-nist, fascist and even the minion of the devil.
That’s on a good day.
Through his efforts, we have greater awareness, understanding and oral health
treatment for those most in need in our state.
Warning signs:repeated injuries, or injuries in various stages of healing
inappropriate behavior
Neglected appearance or hygiene
Parents that are extremely strict or super-critical of the child
General risk factors:History of drug or alcohol abuse within the family
Severe stress — economic, lifestyle, or as a result of disasters
Lack of a support network or isolation (e.g., single parent families, few close friends, no relatives nearby, geographic isolation, inability to or fear of interact-ing with neighbors)
Other forms of family violence within the home (spousal or partner abuse, abuse or neglect of elders)
History of a parent having been abused as a child
if you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the child protective services or law enforcement agency in your area. remember —reporting is not an accusation. it is a call for help. For more information, visit www.healthyarkansas.com/Oral_Health/panda/panda_index.htm, or contact Dr. Lynn mouden at [email protected] or 501-661-2595.
– © D r . Ly N N m O U D e N
Putting Teeth in Public Health
features & news
34 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 35
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : ly n n m o u d e n
As the director of the Arkansas Health De-
partment’s Office of Oral Health, this UNC
School of Public Health graduate has seen
his share of concerned citizens questioning
the statewide effort to fluoridate the water.
“You’re not going to convince some of
them. They work on emotion, not science,”
says Mouden, who earned his doctor of dental
surgery at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City in 1975 and his master’s in health policy
and administration from Carolina in 1994.
Instead, Mouden and his four-person staff
have concentrated on crisscrossing the state,
meeting with local officials, one community
at a time. In fact, he says he’s been to more
city council meetings than he can remember.
But the work is paying off. Local water system
participation was at 49 percent when he ar-
rived. It’s now at 64 percent and getting closer
all the time to the 75 percent goal.
Mouden’s accomplishments look all the
more impressive considering he started in
Arkansas in 1999 with no budget or staff. Us-
ing his savvy political and leadership skills,
he aligned himself with supportive legislators
who developed and passed a statute requiring
the state oral health program. He also built a
coalition of 38 organizations and nonprofit
groups to advocate for oral health.
“All of that has been significant because
we’ve been able to continue despite several
major budget crises and two departmental
reorganizations,” he says.
Mouden, however, is perhaps best known
for a national and international program
called PANDA — Prevent Abuse and Neglect
through Dental Awareness. PANDA trains
dentists and other health professionals to
recognize victims of family violence and
provide appropriate intervention.
“Seventy-five percent of all physical abuse
signs occur in the head, neck and mouth
areas,” says Mouden. “And yet, less than
one percent of dentists were responsible for
reporting such abuse.”
Mouden’s interest in family violence was
strengthened at UNC while taking courses
in the School of Public Health’s executive
master’s program. However, it was seeing and
reporting actual cases of abuse while he was a
practicing dentist in the small Missouri town
of Weston that really got his attention.
“At one point, I talked to dentists from
other towns in the state and asked if they
were seeing what I was seeing, and they said
they weren’t,” he says. “That got me think-
ing. Why am I seeing it in Weston and it
wasn’t being seen anywhere else?”
He discovered that abuse wasn’t re-
ally more prevalent in Weston but that
dentists in other towns were missing the
signs in their young patients. So, joining
forces with a dental benefits carrier, Delta
Dental of Missouri, Mouden developed the
educational material for PANDA and started
spreading the word.
“I just took it upon myself to make it a
personal mission.”
Now with 45 state and 12 international
programs, PANDA has proven to be the
driving force behind dentists and others do-
ing a better job of recognizing and reporting
abuse and neglect.
“We are truly blessed to have Lynn Moud-
en’s experience and capabilities as our leader
in improving oral health for all Arkansans,”
says Ed Choate, president and chief executive
officer of Delta Dental of Arkansas. “Through
his efforts, we have greater awareness, under-
standing and oral health treatment for those
most in need in our state.”
There’s no slowing this high achiever.
Mouden has continued to expand the
PANDA program, both in the United States
and abroad, and to promote a “train the
trainers” component to the program that
he developed largely during his annual leave
time. Mouden says it’s worth it, knowing he’s
helped save lives. n
– B y G e N e P i N D e r
Alum spearheads Arkansas’ water fluoridation efforts; founds PANDA program to train dentists worldwide to recognize and report abuse
Know how to recognize child abuse and neglect
Dr. Lynn mouden is the founder of the international program, PaNDa — Prevent abuse and Neglect through Dental awareness. The program trains dentists and other health professionals to recognize victims of family violence and provide appropriate intervention. mouden is director of the arkansas Health Department’s Office of Oral Health and holds a master’s in health policy and administration from UNC.
Dr. Lynn Mouden has been called a commu-nist, fascist and even the minion of the devil.
That’s on a good day.
Through his efforts, we have greater awareness, understanding and oral health
treatment for those most in need in our state.
Warning signs:repeated injuries, or injuries in various stages of healing
inappropriate behavior
Neglected appearance or hygiene
Parents that are extremely strict or super-critical of the child
General risk factors:History of drug or alcohol abuse within the family
Severe stress — economic, lifestyle, or as a result of disasters
Lack of a support network or isolation (e.g., single parent families, few close friends, no relatives nearby, geographic isolation, inability to or fear of interact-ing with neighbors)
Other forms of family violence within the home (spousal or partner abuse, abuse or neglect of elders)
History of a parent having been abused as a child
if you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the child protective services or law enforcement agency in your area. remember —reporting is not an accusation. it is a call for help. For more information, visit www.healthyarkansas.com/Oral_Health/panda/panda_index.htm, or contact Dr. Lynn mouden at [email protected] or 501-661-2595.
– © D r . Ly N N m O U D e N
Putting Teeth in Public Health
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 37
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a l f o n s o z a v a l a
“I was always very interested in providing
water supply systems to low-income popu-
lations, especially in rural areas where they
had nothing,” says 79-year-old Zavala, a
Peruvian native who earned his master’s
degree in sanitary engineering at Carolina in
1955 on a fellowship from the International
Cooperation Administration — the precur-
sor to the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
Zavala’s 40-plus year career has included
many opportunities to help. After completing
his degree, he went on to oversee the develop-
ment of the first water and sewer system in
Sicaya, Peru — a mountainous city of 4,500.
Hired by the Peruvian Minister of Health
through the Inter-American Co-operative
Service of Public Health, Zavala worked with
community members to help them develop
a plan to pay 10 percent of total project costs
through cash and labor contributions.
“The idea was to organize the commu-
nity so they could help themselves,” says
Zavala, who now lives in McLean, Va. “They
provided non-specialized labor and money
to show they were interested in having a
water system.” The project’s success be-
came a model for other rural water projects
throughout Latin America and led to the
creation of Peru’s National Rural Water Sup-
ply Program, founded by Zavala. Between
1962 and 1969, through this program, Zavala
directed the construction of more than 700
new water supply systems in rural Peruvian
communities with populations of 2,000 or
less. Each system was built with community
participation. Water supply and sanitation
administrative boards were formed in each
community to oversee the system’s opera-
tion and maintenance. Tariffs were collected
for water so systems would be sustainable.
During this time, Zavala also served as
part-time professor at the School of Sanitary
Engineering in Lima, Peru’s National Uni-
versity of Engineering. In 1969, he became
dean of the School of Sanitary Engineer-
ing and a full-time professor, positions he
maintained until 1973 when he joined the
World Bank as senior sanitary engineer for
the Water Supply and Sanitation Division for
Latin America and the Caribbean.
John Kalbermatten, who directed the
division at that time, remembers Zavala as
being particularly good in relationships with
World Bank borrowers.
“He was a splendid negotiator,” Kalber-
matten says. “He could sit down with people
at any level of the hierarchy and explain his
case — explain why projects were formulated
the way they were and why some things were
necessary to lead to success.
“It’s always a difficult thing to convince
developing country officials that water
sanitation systems have to be paid for by the
people who will be the beneficiaries, even
though they may not have much money to
make a payment,” Kalbermatten says. “Any
system that’s not sustainable by the people
who will use it, will eventually fail. This is a
concept that is sometimes hard for govern-
ment officials to accept. You have to make a
real good case and have to have the personal-
ity to find compromises.”
In 1976, Zavala was promoted to chief of
the Water Supply and Sanitation Division
for Latin America and the Caribbean. Under
his direction, the program averaged five new
water supply and sanitation projects annu-
ally and had an active portfolio of more than
30 projects under construction in the region
at any given time.
In 1981, Zavala’s successful leadership led
him to be tapped once again for a position
of responsibility — this time by Peruvian
President Fernando Belaúnde. His new
job? Reorganize Peru’s water and sanitation
system. Under his direction, Peru’s National
Water Supply and Sanitation Corporation
(SENAPA) was established, with Zavala as
the organization’s first chairman of the
board and chief executive officer.
“The company was self-sustaining and
financially independent,” explains Zavala.
“Each person paid for water supply in their
community.”
Zavala returned to the World Bank in
1983 and ultimately became adviser to water
supply and sanitation at the Bank’s Central
Projects Office. In this position, he super-
vised water and sanitation projects funded
by the Bank throughout the world. He re-
tired from the World Bank in 1991 but has
continued working as a consultant and ad-
viser on water supply and sanitation-related
issues, primarily in Latin America.
“I loved what I did as a professional,”
Zavala says. “I have really enjoyed helping
people have good water supply and sanitation
systems that can improve their health and
wellbeing. It has been a privilege and a source
of tremendous satisfaction to have acquired
the knowledge and foundation for my career
at the UNC School of Public Health, which
in turn gave me the ability to help change so
many people’s lives in Peru and other devel-
oping countries around the world.” n
– B y e m i Ly J . S m i T H
UNC alum dedicates career to helping create water and sanitation systems in rural developing country communities
A Way with Water:
Alfonso Zavala’s career in water and sanitation development has taken him to rural villages
all over the world where he has done what he does best — help people help themselves.
I have really enjoyed helping people have good water supply and sanitation systems that can
improve their health and wellbeing.
alfonso Zavala (right) shakes hands with Javier Velarde, Peru’s former minister of Housing, during Zavala’s 1981 appointment as president of the National Water Supply and Sewerage Services of Peru. Zavala, a native of Peru, earned a master’s in sanitary engineering from UNC in 1955.
features & news
36 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
alfonso Zavala
PH
OTO
By
miG
UeL
eSC
UD
erO
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 37
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a l f o n s o z a v a l a
“I was always very interested in providing
water supply systems to low-income popu-
lations, especially in rural areas where they
had nothing,” says 79-year-old Zavala, a
Peruvian native who earned his master’s
degree in sanitary engineering at Carolina in
1955 on a fellowship from the International
Cooperation Administration — the precur-
sor to the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
Zavala’s 40-plus year career has included
many opportunities to help. After completing
his degree, he went on to oversee the develop-
ment of the first water and sewer system in
Sicaya, Peru — a mountainous city of 4,500.
Hired by the Peruvian Minister of Health
through the Inter-American Co-operative
Service of Public Health, Zavala worked with
community members to help them develop
a plan to pay 10 percent of total project costs
through cash and labor contributions.
“The idea was to organize the commu-
nity so they could help themselves,” says
Zavala, who now lives in McLean, Va. “They
provided non-specialized labor and money
to show they were interested in having a
water system.” The project’s success be-
came a model for other rural water projects
throughout Latin America and led to the
creation of Peru’s National Rural Water Sup-
ply Program, founded by Zavala. Between
1962 and 1969, through this program, Zavala
directed the construction of more than 700
new water supply systems in rural Peruvian
communities with populations of 2,000 or
less. Each system was built with community
participation. Water supply and sanitation
administrative boards were formed in each
community to oversee the system’s opera-
tion and maintenance. Tariffs were collected
for water so systems would be sustainable.
During this time, Zavala also served as
part-time professor at the School of Sanitary
Engineering in Lima, Peru’s National Uni-
versity of Engineering. In 1969, he became
dean of the School of Sanitary Engineer-
ing and a full-time professor, positions he
maintained until 1973 when he joined the
World Bank as senior sanitary engineer for
the Water Supply and Sanitation Division for
Latin America and the Caribbean.
John Kalbermatten, who directed the
division at that time, remembers Zavala as
being particularly good in relationships with
World Bank borrowers.
“He was a splendid negotiator,” Kalber-
matten says. “He could sit down with people
at any level of the hierarchy and explain his
case — explain why projects were formulated
the way they were and why some things were
necessary to lead to success.
“It’s always a difficult thing to convince
developing country officials that water
sanitation systems have to be paid for by the
people who will be the beneficiaries, even
though they may not have much money to
make a payment,” Kalbermatten says. “Any
system that’s not sustainable by the people
who will use it, will eventually fail. This is a
concept that is sometimes hard for govern-
ment officials to accept. You have to make a
real good case and have to have the personal-
ity to find compromises.”
In 1976, Zavala was promoted to chief of
the Water Supply and Sanitation Division
for Latin America and the Caribbean. Under
his direction, the program averaged five new
water supply and sanitation projects annu-
ally and had an active portfolio of more than
30 projects under construction in the region
at any given time.
In 1981, Zavala’s successful leadership led
him to be tapped once again for a position
of responsibility — this time by Peruvian
President Fernando Belaúnde. His new
job? Reorganize Peru’s water and sanitation
system. Under his direction, Peru’s National
Water Supply and Sanitation Corporation
(SENAPA) was established, with Zavala as
the organization’s first chairman of the
board and chief executive officer.
“The company was self-sustaining and
financially independent,” explains Zavala.
“Each person paid for water supply in their
community.”
Zavala returned to the World Bank in
1983 and ultimately became adviser to water
supply and sanitation at the Bank’s Central
Projects Office. In this position, he super-
vised water and sanitation projects funded
by the Bank throughout the world. He re-
tired from the World Bank in 1991 but has
continued working as a consultant and ad-
viser on water supply and sanitation-related
issues, primarily in Latin America.
“I loved what I did as a professional,”
Zavala says. “I have really enjoyed helping
people have good water supply and sanitation
systems that can improve their health and
wellbeing. It has been a privilege and a source
of tremendous satisfaction to have acquired
the knowledge and foundation for my career
at the UNC School of Public Health, which
in turn gave me the ability to help change so
many people’s lives in Peru and other devel-
oping countries around the world.” n
– B y e m i Ly J . S m i T H
UNC alum dedicates career to helping create water and sanitation systems in rural developing country communities
A Way with Water:
Alfonso Zavala’s career in water and sanitation development has taken him to rural villages
all over the world where he has done what he does best — help people help themselves.
I have really enjoyed helping people have good water supply and sanitation systems that can
improve their health and wellbeing.
alfonso Zavala (right) shakes hands with Javier Velarde, Peru’s former minister of Housing, during Zavala’s 1981 appointment as president of the National Water Supply and Sewerage Services of Peru. Zavala, a native of Peru, earned a master’s in sanitary engineering from UNC in 1955.
features & news
36 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
alfonso Zavala
PH
OTO
By
miG
UeL
eSC
UD
erO
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 39
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : H e a t H e r m u n r o e - b l u m
“Look for people who bring different things
to the table than you do,” she advises young
leaders. “Bring together people who add
experience that you don’t have, but who
share your values and principles, your sense
of where you’re going and of new possibility.
Success is a team effort. I believe you’ll al-
ways have a smarter plan working with oth-
ers than thinking it through by yourself.”
Aspiring leaders may want to heed this
advice. Munroe-Blum knows a thing or
two about the topic. As the 16th principal
and vice-chancellor of McGill University in
Montreal and the first woman to hold the
position, Munroe-Blum, 57, has been hold-
ing leadership positions for the better part
of her career.
In 2003, she was awarded Canada’s high-
est civilian honor by being named an Officer
of the Order of Canada and cited as one of
the country’s “most influential spokesper-
sons for universities in matters of research
strategy and policy.”
Prior to accepting the position of princi-
pal and vice-chancellor at McGill, she served
at the University of Toronto as professor,
governor, dean of social work and finally as
vice-president of research and international
relations. Earlier in her career, she was cli-
nician, lecturer and assistant professor in
the Departments of Psychiatry and Clinical
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario, and before
that, at York University in Toronto.
On May 10, Munroe-Blum, who holds a
PhD in epidemiology from Carolina’s School
of Public Health, will give the commence-
ment address for the School’s graduation
ceremony at 5 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the
UNC campus.
When asked about Carolina, Munroe-
Blum says, “I chose to come to UNC-Chapel
Hill because it had the first-ranked epide-
miology program in the world in 1978–79.
The quality of the graduate education and
doctoral program at Chapel Hill remains
today a gold standard for what graduate
education should be.”
The supportive mentoring Munroe-Blum
received at Carolina had lasting impact on
her, she says.
“The best thing that a great teacher and
great educational experience can give to a
student is to help them see talent and pos-
sibility in themselves that they would other-
wise not see,” she says. “Dr. Bert Kaplan, my
doctoral supervisor, did that for me. He said,
‘You’re going to be president of a university
some day.’ His philosophy was that he was
learning as much from us (the students) as
we were learning from him. I have tried to
practice this in every role I’ve been in ever
since, with everyone I interact with.”
Kaplan, professor emeritus of epidemiol-
ogy at Carolina, describes Munroe-Blum as
“a natural leader, distinguished scholar and
eloquent teacher.”
“I’ve been blessed with great students,
and she’s one,” he says. “Heather knows
herself and knows how to be prepared. She
is very creative. She brings her unique gifts
to all relationships and responsibilities. She
is an exceptional leader who is sensitive to
others’ feelings and needs.”
Munroe-Blum’s character may have been
developed, in part, by a challenging child-
hood. Her mother was left to care for her
and her older brother alone shortly after her
birth in Montreal. At age 3, after some time
in foster care with her brother, Munroe-
Blum contracted polio and had to be placed
on an iron lung. Doctors were unsure if she
would walk again. With the help of a family
friend, Munroe-Blum’s mother arranged for
her to live with and receive physical therapy
from a retired British physiotherapist. The
therapy was contrary to the prescribed treat-
ment of the times which advocated bed rest.
But when Munroe-Blum came home just be-
fore her fourth birthday, she was able to walk
with braces, and later fully recovered.
Married for 37 years to screenwriter
Leonard Blum, Munroe-Blum and her hus-
band have a 22-year-old daughter, Sydney, an
environmental economics master’s student
at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Munroe-Blum is passionate when speak-
ing about the role that universities play in
the development of communities.
“Universities fuel our social, cultural and
economic institutions, and they help design
the shape of our communities,” she said in
a speech at her installation as principal of
McGill in 2003. “Universities promote the
free exchange of ideas and encourage open
and meaningful debate. The health of demo-
cratic society, our society, depends on that
debate and exchange. Universities wrestle
with our most difficult problems, and for-
mulate solutions to dilemmas across the
spectrum of human activity: Who controls
the media? How do we sustain a life-giving
environment? What is the role of the free
market? How can we cure cancer? Universi-
ties have become the defining institutions
of modern life — because universities devote
themselves to finding deeper definitions,
deeper meanings and deeper resolutions.”
When speaking about the way education
can change lives, Munroe-Blum is equally
passionate. It’s a topic that has affected her
in a personal way. Her mother, Dorothy, won
a scholarship to McGill years ago — an honor
that her Irish Catholic immigrant father did
not allow her to accept.
“She was an extremely bright woman who
thought that education was a powerful vehicle
for transforming lives,” Munroe-Blum says.
“She never did go to university because that’s
not what women did then, in her circum-
stances. Her father was very traditional. She
went to secretary school instead. By being at
McGill now, I take great satisfaction in some
completion of that cycle on her behalf.” n
– B y e m i Ly J . S m i T H
W hen UNC School of Public Health alumna Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum talks about
leadership, she speaks of “team effort,” “principles,” and “new possibility.”
Dr. Heather munroe-Blum, the first woman to hold the position of principal and vice-chancellor of mcGill University in montreal, speaks to students on mcGill’s campus. munroe-Blum is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s doctoral epidemiology program.
Dr. Heather munroe-Blum
Advises first female principal of Montreal’s McGill University
Success is a team effort
features & news
38 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 39
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : H e a t H e r m u n r o e - b l u m
“Look for people who bring different things
to the table than you do,” she advises young
leaders. “Bring together people who add
experience that you don’t have, but who
share your values and principles, your sense
of where you’re going and of new possibility.
Success is a team effort. I believe you’ll al-
ways have a smarter plan working with oth-
ers than thinking it through by yourself.”
Aspiring leaders may want to heed this
advice. Munroe-Blum knows a thing or
two about the topic. As the 16th principal
and vice-chancellor of McGill University in
Montreal and the first woman to hold the
position, Munroe-Blum, 57, has been hold-
ing leadership positions for the better part
of her career.
In 2003, she was awarded Canada’s high-
est civilian honor by being named an Officer
of the Order of Canada and cited as one of
the country’s “most influential spokesper-
sons for universities in matters of research
strategy and policy.”
Prior to accepting the position of princi-
pal and vice-chancellor at McGill, she served
at the University of Toronto as professor,
governor, dean of social work and finally as
vice-president of research and international
relations. Earlier in her career, she was cli-
nician, lecturer and assistant professor in
the Departments of Psychiatry and Clinical
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario, and before
that, at York University in Toronto.
On May 10, Munroe-Blum, who holds a
PhD in epidemiology from Carolina’s School
of Public Health, will give the commence-
ment address for the School’s graduation
ceremony at 5 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the
UNC campus.
When asked about Carolina, Munroe-
Blum says, “I chose to come to UNC-Chapel
Hill because it had the first-ranked epide-
miology program in the world in 1978–79.
The quality of the graduate education and
doctoral program at Chapel Hill remains
today a gold standard for what graduate
education should be.”
The supportive mentoring Munroe-Blum
received at Carolina had lasting impact on
her, she says.
“The best thing that a great teacher and
great educational experience can give to a
student is to help them see talent and pos-
sibility in themselves that they would other-
wise not see,” she says. “Dr. Bert Kaplan, my
doctoral supervisor, did that for me. He said,
‘You’re going to be president of a university
some day.’ His philosophy was that he was
learning as much from us (the students) as
we were learning from him. I have tried to
practice this in every role I’ve been in ever
since, with everyone I interact with.”
Kaplan, professor emeritus of epidemiol-
ogy at Carolina, describes Munroe-Blum as
“a natural leader, distinguished scholar and
eloquent teacher.”
“I’ve been blessed with great students,
and she’s one,” he says. “Heather knows
herself and knows how to be prepared. She
is very creative. She brings her unique gifts
to all relationships and responsibilities. She
is an exceptional leader who is sensitive to
others’ feelings and needs.”
Munroe-Blum’s character may have been
developed, in part, by a challenging child-
hood. Her mother was left to care for her
and her older brother alone shortly after her
birth in Montreal. At age 3, after some time
in foster care with her brother, Munroe-
Blum contracted polio and had to be placed
on an iron lung. Doctors were unsure if she
would walk again. With the help of a family
friend, Munroe-Blum’s mother arranged for
her to live with and receive physical therapy
from a retired British physiotherapist. The
therapy was contrary to the prescribed treat-
ment of the times which advocated bed rest.
But when Munroe-Blum came home just be-
fore her fourth birthday, she was able to walk
with braces, and later fully recovered.
Married for 37 years to screenwriter
Leonard Blum, Munroe-Blum and her hus-
band have a 22-year-old daughter, Sydney, an
environmental economics master’s student
at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Munroe-Blum is passionate when speak-
ing about the role that universities play in
the development of communities.
“Universities fuel our social, cultural and
economic institutions, and they help design
the shape of our communities,” she said in
a speech at her installation as principal of
McGill in 2003. “Universities promote the
free exchange of ideas and encourage open
and meaningful debate. The health of demo-
cratic society, our society, depends on that
debate and exchange. Universities wrestle
with our most difficult problems, and for-
mulate solutions to dilemmas across the
spectrum of human activity: Who controls
the media? How do we sustain a life-giving
environment? What is the role of the free
market? How can we cure cancer? Universi-
ties have become the defining institutions
of modern life — because universities devote
themselves to finding deeper definitions,
deeper meanings and deeper resolutions.”
When speaking about the way education
can change lives, Munroe-Blum is equally
passionate. It’s a topic that has affected her
in a personal way. Her mother, Dorothy, won
a scholarship to McGill years ago — an honor
that her Irish Catholic immigrant father did
not allow her to accept.
“She was an extremely bright woman who
thought that education was a powerful vehicle
for transforming lives,” Munroe-Blum says.
“She never did go to university because that’s
not what women did then, in her circum-
stances. Her father was very traditional. She
went to secretary school instead. By being at
McGill now, I take great satisfaction in some
completion of that cycle on her behalf.” n
– B y e m i Ly J . S m i T H
W hen UNC School of Public Health alumna Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum talks about
leadership, she speaks of “team effort,” “principles,” and “new possibility.”
Dr. Heather munroe-Blum, the first woman to hold the position of principal and vice-chancellor of mcGill University in montreal, speaks to students on mcGill’s campus. munroe-Blum is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s doctoral epidemiology program.
Dr. Heather munroe-Blum
Advises first female principal of Montreal’s McGill University
Success is a team effort
features & news
38 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
features & news
40 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
Fiorella Horna-Guerra would answer, Work,
hope and a miracle or two.
Currently serving as consultant to the
North Carolina Farmworker Health Pro-
gram in the N.C. Department of Health and
Human Services’ Office of Rural Health and
Community Care, Horna-Guerra knows
first-hand about her clients’ circumstances.
When she was five years old, her family
moved from Lima, Peru, to New York City
in search of a new beginning. Two months
later, her father returned to Peru, with no ex-
planation, leaving behind his wife and young
daughter in a country where they knew little
about the language and customs.
Horna-Guerra’s mother, whose most
marketable job skill was sewing, grew up
in an era when women in Peru were not
encouraged to go to school. Still, says
Horna-Guerra, her mother’s faith, love for
learning, work ethic, independence and
resilience allowed them to live a productive
and secure life.
Horna-Guerra has spent her adult life
giving back.
A 2006 graduate of Carolina’s Emerg-
ing Leaders in Public Health Program, a
program of the North Carolina Institute for
Public Health (see page 7), Horna-Guerra
says that early in her career as community
outreach coordinator in a Medicaid man-
aged care plan for Metropolitan Hospital
in New York and through her work at the
Manhattan Borough President’s office, she
often found herself influencing legislation
and advocating for expanded funding for
health-based programs.
In 1993, when she moved to Cary, N.C.,
she was hired as program manager for the
Community-based Public Health Initiative
at the Lee County Health Department in
Sanford, N.C.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
is the question she remembers hearing most
often. Her colleagues wondered if a feisty,
5-foot-1-inch Latina could work with the
primarily African American population they
served. People she tried to help thought she
talked too fast and had “big-city” ways.
Horna-Guerra says she had to learn to be
an advocate and educator as well as a mover
and shaker. “I served as a resource to people
as they empowered themselves to look for
the services they needed. And I had to talk a
lot slower,” she says.
Dr. John Hatch, Kenan Distinguished
Professor Emeritus of health behavior and
health education, was one of Horna-Guerra’s
mentors. “Don’t just ask people what they
need,” she remembers Hatch telling her.
“Let’s change the question. Ask them what
their dreams are.”
Horna-Guerra says she got surprising re-
sponses to that question. Rather than focus
on what people lacked, she says she found
ways to identify their strengths, inborn
talents and assets to help them attain their
goals and access services. She’s continuing
to do that today.
“North Carolina is different from New
York in many ways — not the least of which
is the number of uninsured, working poor.
People here may be overlooked for various
reasons and thus experience limited access
to getting their needs met.
“It’s one of the things that I’m working on
changing,” she says with a grin. n
— B y L i N D a K a S T L e m a N
Let’s change the question: What are your dreams?
it’S an age-old curioSity: one perSon born into poverty fallS
prey to hiS circuMStanceS; another becoMeS a SucceSS and
inSpiration. what cauSeS a life to follow one path or another?
Fiorella Horna-Guerra is a consultant to the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of rural Health and Community Care. She is a 2006 graduate of the School’s emerging Leaders in Public Health Program.
Fiorella Horna-Guerra
PH
OTO
By
ma
xW
eLL
S. G
Uer
ra
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a n n e t H o m a s
Those changes have been fundamental
(transforming the perception of public
health in her community), instrumental (im-
proving the culture in the health department
itself), and revolutionary (working with a
range of partners to implement program
after program to improve health).
A major challenge for Thomas has been
the overdoses and other substance abuse
concerns that have plagued Dare County
recently. In 2006, at a community meeting
about the issue attended by then N.C. Secre-
tary of Health and Human Services Carmen
Hooker-Odom, State Senate President Marc
Basnight, and Dare County human service
agency directors, school administrators,
and business and religious leaders, Thomas
galvanized the community’s resolve to ad-
dress the problem and was tapped to lead
development of a substance abuse plan for
the county.
She began by convening partners from
state and local public health communities
to develop a vision for the plan. Under her
guidance, they assessed the need and detailed
the necessary resources, timeline, cost of
implementation, and funding sources for a
substance abuse continuum-of-care dem-
onstration project in the county. It worked.
Based on this work, the state and county
allocated $1.4 million for a prevention, pro-
fessional development and treatment services
program which began in January 2007.
Always looking to learn more, Thomas
is a graduate of the School’s Management
Academy for Public Health and Southeast
Public Health Leadership Institute. (See
page 7.)
Ellie Ward, nursing director for Dare
County’s Department of Public Health,
explains Thomas’ inspirational nature.
“Anne sees where we are and where we need
to go, and she gets us there,” Ward says.
“With partners, even competitors or those
with reputations for being closed and un-
welcoming, she identifies the win-win and
works to that end. Most important, Anne
communicates honestly and directly what
others are afraid to say, and she is heard,
because she seeks to understand and solve,
not judge or blame.”
In creating the substance abuse program,
Thomas tackled a complex and emotionally-
charged issue and succeeded in developing a
comprehensive plan to serve her community
now and in the future. n
– B y a N N e m e N K e N S
Dare County health director
“identifies the win-win and works to that end”
aS director of dar e county departMent of public health
Since 1996, anne thoMaS haS been Making change happen
in her organization and coMMunity for over a decade.
Anne sees where we are and where we need to go, and she gets us there.
anne Thomas, director of Dare County (N.C.) Department of Public Health, is a graduate of the School’s management academy for Public Health and the Southeast Public Health Leadership institute.
anne Thomas
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : f i o r e l l a H o r n a - g u e r r a
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 41
features & news
40 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
Fiorella Horna-Guerra would answer, Work,
hope and a miracle or two.
Currently serving as consultant to the
North Carolina Farmworker Health Pro-
gram in the N.C. Department of Health and
Human Services’ Office of Rural Health and
Community Care, Horna-Guerra knows
first-hand about her clients’ circumstances.
When she was five years old, her family
moved from Lima, Peru, to New York City
in search of a new beginning. Two months
later, her father returned to Peru, with no ex-
planation, leaving behind his wife and young
daughter in a country where they knew little
about the language and customs.
Horna-Guerra’s mother, whose most
marketable job skill was sewing, grew up
in an era when women in Peru were not
encouraged to go to school. Still, says
Horna-Guerra, her mother’s faith, love for
learning, work ethic, independence and
resilience allowed them to live a productive
and secure life.
Horna-Guerra has spent her adult life
giving back.
A 2006 graduate of Carolina’s Emerg-
ing Leaders in Public Health Program, a
program of the North Carolina Institute for
Public Health (see page 7), Horna-Guerra
says that early in her career as community
outreach coordinator in a Medicaid man-
aged care plan for Metropolitan Hospital
in New York and through her work at the
Manhattan Borough President’s office, she
often found herself influencing legislation
and advocating for expanded funding for
health-based programs.
In 1993, when she moved to Cary, N.C.,
she was hired as program manager for the
Community-based Public Health Initiative
at the Lee County Health Department in
Sanford, N.C.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
is the question she remembers hearing most
often. Her colleagues wondered if a feisty,
5-foot-1-inch Latina could work with the
primarily African American population they
served. People she tried to help thought she
talked too fast and had “big-city” ways.
Horna-Guerra says she had to learn to be
an advocate and educator as well as a mover
and shaker. “I served as a resource to people
as they empowered themselves to look for
the services they needed. And I had to talk a
lot slower,” she says.
Dr. John Hatch, Kenan Distinguished
Professor Emeritus of health behavior and
health education, was one of Horna-Guerra’s
mentors. “Don’t just ask people what they
need,” she remembers Hatch telling her.
“Let’s change the question. Ask them what
their dreams are.”
Horna-Guerra says she got surprising re-
sponses to that question. Rather than focus
on what people lacked, she says she found
ways to identify their strengths, inborn
talents and assets to help them attain their
goals and access services. She’s continuing
to do that today.
“North Carolina is different from New
York in many ways — not the least of which
is the number of uninsured, working poor.
People here may be overlooked for various
reasons and thus experience limited access
to getting their needs met.
“It’s one of the things that I’m working on
changing,” she says with a grin. n
— B y L i N D a K a S T L e m a N
Let’s change the question: What are your dreams?
it’S an age-old curioSity: one perSon born into poverty fallS
prey to hiS circuMStanceS; another becoMeS a SucceSS and
inSpiration. what cauSeS a life to follow one path or another?
Fiorella Horna-Guerra is a consultant to the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of rural Health and Community Care. She is a 2006 graduate of the School’s emerging Leaders in Public Health Program.
Fiorella Horna-Guerra
PH
OTO
By
ma
xW
eLL
S. G
Uer
ra
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : a n n e t H o m a s
Those changes have been fundamental
(transforming the perception of public
health in her community), instrumental (im-
proving the culture in the health department
itself), and revolutionary (working with a
range of partners to implement program
after program to improve health).
A major challenge for Thomas has been
the overdoses and other substance abuse
concerns that have plagued Dare County
recently. In 2006, at a community meeting
about the issue attended by then N.C. Secre-
tary of Health and Human Services Carmen
Hooker-Odom, State Senate President Marc
Basnight, and Dare County human service
agency directors, school administrators,
and business and religious leaders, Thomas
galvanized the community’s resolve to ad-
dress the problem and was tapped to lead
development of a substance abuse plan for
the county.
She began by convening partners from
state and local public health communities
to develop a vision for the plan. Under her
guidance, they assessed the need and detailed
the necessary resources, timeline, cost of
implementation, and funding sources for a
substance abuse continuum-of-care dem-
onstration project in the county. It worked.
Based on this work, the state and county
allocated $1.4 million for a prevention, pro-
fessional development and treatment services
program which began in January 2007.
Always looking to learn more, Thomas
is a graduate of the School’s Management
Academy for Public Health and Southeast
Public Health Leadership Institute. (See
page 7.)
Ellie Ward, nursing director for Dare
County’s Department of Public Health,
explains Thomas’ inspirational nature.
“Anne sees where we are and where we need
to go, and she gets us there,” Ward says.
“With partners, even competitors or those
with reputations for being closed and un-
welcoming, she identifies the win-win and
works to that end. Most important, Anne
communicates honestly and directly what
others are afraid to say, and she is heard,
because she seeks to understand and solve,
not judge or blame.”
In creating the substance abuse program,
Thomas tackled a complex and emotionally-
charged issue and succeeded in developing a
comprehensive plan to serve her community
now and in the future. n
– B y a N N e m e N K e N S
Dare County health director
“identifies the win-win and works to that end”
aS director of dar e county departMent of public health
Since 1996, anne thoMaS haS been Making change happen
in her organization and coMMunity for over a decade.
Anne sees where we are and where we need to go, and she gets us there.
anne Thomas, director of Dare County (N.C.) Department of Public Health, is a graduate of the School’s management academy for Public Health and the Southeast Public Health Leadership institute.
anne Thomas
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : f i o r e l l a H o r n a - g u e r r a
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 41
features & news
42 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 43
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : g e o r g e W i l l i a m s
“One of the first stories I ever did for a local
newspaper in Chapel Hill was about rural
health policy in North Carolina. I didn’t
know at that time, but that should have told
me something,” says Ricketts, who earned
a bachelor’s in history from Carolina as a
Morehead Scholar and worked as produc-
tion and design manager at the Washington
(D.C.) Monthly before returning to the Tar
Heel state.
Ricketts is now professor of health policy
at Carolina’s School of Public Health and
director of the North Carolina Rural Health
Research Program at UNC. He also is chair-
man of the Scientific Advisory Committee for
United Health Foundation’s annual review,
“America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action
for People and Their Communities.” UNC’s
School of Public Health is the academic part-
ner to the review, which also is sponsored by
the American Public Health Association and
the Partnership for Prevention.
Ricketts says he started his public health
career writing proposals for the North Caro-
lina Heart Association.
Goaded by a need to know more about
how the system worked, he decided, in 1976,
to pursue a master’s in health policy at the
UNC School of Public Health. Since then, his
academic pursuits and passion for health care
administration have led him on a journey
punctuated by degrees, awards and national
recognition. He earned his doctorate in health
policy from the School in 1988. He speaks
French and Russian and, as a side note, is an
avid bicyclist who has successfully completed
amateur stages of the Tour de France.
These days, as director of the North Caro-
lina Rural Health Research Program in the
UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Ser-
When Ricketts talks,
When Thomas Ricketts came back to North Carolina in search of a job in medical
journalism, he didn’t know that years later, he would influence government decisions on health policy and administration in the state.
Tom is very creative in terms of thinking about how delivery of health care relates
to the work force supply.
the N.C. GeneralAssembly
listens
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 43
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : t H o m a s r i c k e t t s
Now, with almost four decades of leader-
ship experience under his belt, Williams
continues to credit his time in Chapel Hill
for his success. “There is no doubt in my
mind how impactful UNC has been to my
career,” he says. “From the educational
component to the breadth and quality of
research that I was able to consider… a lot
of the things I’ve done were nurtured by the
excitement and enthusiasm I saw from my
days at Carolina.”
Williams is vice president of Global
Biomedical Data Sciences at Amgen, Inc., a
global biotechnology company that discov-
ers, develops, manufactures and markets
human therapeutics based on advances in
cellular and molecular biology. Previously
he worked in various leadership positions
at Merck & Co., Inc., and Bristol-Myers
Squibb. He also spent almost a decade in the
academic sector as a biostatistics professor at
the University of Michigan.
Today Williams continues to collaborate
with people he met while a student at Caro-
lina. He says one of the best things about
going to Carolina is the connections that
continue beyond the classroom. “It’s not
just the experience you have while you’re on
campus. It’s also the opportunity to interact
with faculty and students in various ways
over the course of a long-term career,” he
says. “Even now, I continue to benefit from
their wisdom.” n
– B y m a r G a r i T a D e P a N O
when george williaMS waS working aS a StatiStician at the national inStitute of Men-
tal health in the 1960S, he becaMe intereSted in the application of StatiSticS to public
health probleMS. a “nuMberS Man,” with degreeS in both MatheMaticS and StatiSticS, williaMS
wanted to add a Medical coMponent to hiS acadeMic diScipline. So in 1970, he caMe to caro-
lina’S School of public health to get a phd in bioStatiSticS.
at Carolina continueconnections made
Vice president at Amgen, Inc. says
A lot of the things I’ve done were nurtured by the excitement and enthusiasm I saw
from my days at Carolina.
Dr. George Williams is vice president of Global Biomedical Data Sciences at amgen, inc., a global biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets human therapeutics based on advances in cellular and molecular biology. He earned his PhD in biostatistics from Carolina.
Dr. Thomas ricketts
features & news
42 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 43
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : g e o r g e W i l l i a m s
“One of the first stories I ever did for a local
newspaper in Chapel Hill was about rural
health policy in North Carolina. I didn’t
know at that time, but that should have told
me something,” says Ricketts, who earned
a bachelor’s in history from Carolina as a
Morehead Scholar and worked as produc-
tion and design manager at the Washington
(D.C.) Monthly before returning to the Tar
Heel state.
Ricketts is now professor of health policy
at Carolina’s School of Public Health and
director of the North Carolina Rural Health
Research Program at UNC. He also is chair-
man of the Scientific Advisory Committee for
United Health Foundation’s annual review,
“America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action
for People and Their Communities.” UNC’s
School of Public Health is the academic part-
ner to the review, which also is sponsored by
the American Public Health Association and
the Partnership for Prevention.
Ricketts says he started his public health
career writing proposals for the North Caro-
lina Heart Association.
Goaded by a need to know more about
how the system worked, he decided, in 1976,
to pursue a master’s in health policy at the
UNC School of Public Health. Since then, his
academic pursuits and passion for health care
administration have led him on a journey
punctuated by degrees, awards and national
recognition. He earned his doctorate in health
policy from the School in 1988. He speaks
French and Russian and, as a side note, is an
avid bicyclist who has successfully completed
amateur stages of the Tour de France.
These days, as director of the North Caro-
lina Rural Health Research Program in the
UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Ser-
When Ricketts talks,
When Thomas Ricketts came back to North Carolina in search of a job in medical
journalism, he didn’t know that years later, he would influence government decisions on health policy and administration in the state.
Tom is very creative in terms of thinking about how delivery of health care relates
to the work force supply.
the N.C. GeneralAssembly
listens
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 43
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : t H o m a s r i c k e t t s
Now, with almost four decades of leader-
ship experience under his belt, Williams
continues to credit his time in Chapel Hill
for his success. “There is no doubt in my
mind how impactful UNC has been to my
career,” he says. “From the educational
component to the breadth and quality of
research that I was able to consider… a lot
of the things I’ve done were nurtured by the
excitement and enthusiasm I saw from my
days at Carolina.”
Williams is vice president of Global
Biomedical Data Sciences at Amgen, Inc., a
global biotechnology company that discov-
ers, develops, manufactures and markets
human therapeutics based on advances in
cellular and molecular biology. Previously
he worked in various leadership positions
at Merck & Co., Inc., and Bristol-Myers
Squibb. He also spent almost a decade in the
academic sector as a biostatistics professor at
the University of Michigan.
Today Williams continues to collaborate
with people he met while a student at Caro-
lina. He says one of the best things about
going to Carolina is the connections that
continue beyond the classroom. “It’s not
just the experience you have while you’re on
campus. It’s also the opportunity to interact
with faculty and students in various ways
over the course of a long-term career,” he
says. “Even now, I continue to benefit from
their wisdom.” n
– B y m a r G a r i T a D e P a N O
when george williaMS waS working aS a StatiStician at the national inStitute of Men-
tal health in the 1960S, he becaMe intereSted in the application of StatiSticS to public
health probleMS. a “nuMberS Man,” with degreeS in both MatheMaticS and StatiSticS, williaMS
wanted to add a Medical coMponent to hiS acadeMic diScipline. So in 1970, he caMe to caro-
lina’S School of public health to get a phd in bioStatiSticS.
at Carolina continueconnections made
Vice president at Amgen, Inc. says
A lot of the things I’ve done were nurtured by the excitement and enthusiasm I saw
from my days at Carolina.
Dr. George Williams is vice president of Global Biomedical Data Sciences at amgen, inc., a global biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets human therapeutics based on advances in cellular and molecular biology. He earned his PhD in biostatistics from Carolina.
Dr. Thomas ricketts
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 45
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
8 Especially in universities, where there is
a hierarchy, most of what gets done is more
by personal persuasion. A lot has to do
with creating enough excitement, enough
enthusiasm that other people voluntarily
subscribe.”
Shortly after HSSC got underway in
2004, South Carolina Governor Mark San-
ford awarded Greenberg the Order of the
Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor,
for exceptional service to the state and na-
tion. “During your time as its president,
MUSC has enjoyed national recognition
in the areas of education, research and pa-
tient care,” Sanford said at the time. Still
to come, the governor predicted, were even
greater achievements, “whose seeds have
been planted through your efforts to build
alliances with health and educational insti-
tutions, both public and private, through the
state of South Carolina.”
In building these alliances, Greenberg
has drawn on the examples of his parents,
whom he calls one of the greatest blessings
of his life. His father, the late Dr. Bernard
Greenberg, founded and chaired the Depart-
ment of Biostatistics in the UNC School of
Public Health and later served as dean. His
mother, Ruth Greenberg, has a graduate
degree in chemistry from Yale. She says her
son was a very determined and intelligent
person from the time he was very young.
In retrospect, his ending up in public health
may seem pre-ordained, but he insists he
had no clue as a Carolina undergraduate or
in medical school at Duke that he would take
that route. While doing a master’s in public
health at Harvard, he developed a passion
for epidemiology, which led him back to
the Carolina School of Public Health for a
PhD in that field. But he started to develop
much earlier the leadership skills he relies
on today.
“From my earliest memories, I was al-
ways around academic people, and it always
felt very comfortable to me to interact and
understand the culture and the values that
make you successful in an academic setting,”
he says. “A lot of that I just absorbed growing
up. It’s hard to say whether I inherited it or
acquired it being Bernie Greenberg’s son.”
He took away some specific lessons from
his father’s experience as dean during the
turbulent early 1970s, when there was much
anti-establishment sentiment.
He said of his father, “He worked very
hard during this time to be perceived for
his true values, for promoting equal op-
portunity, for helping the underserved
population.”
“Especially where there are differences of
opinion or emotional issues, solutions are
not quick,” he says he came to understand.
“You have to be persistent and consistent.
You have to listen a lot. It’s important for
people to be heard and to allow them to feel
they’re engaged in the decision-making.”
Ray Greenberg took the lesson to heart.
Colleagues like Larry Mohr say he is a leader
who lets people know he’s heard them. “He
has done a remarkable job in putting to-
gether very creative collaborations that have
really had a multiplier effect, a synergistic
effect in enhancing the effectiveness of what
we’re doing here,” Mohr says.
“We don’t have a lot of advantages in
South Carolina,” Greenberg says. “But our
recent ability to partner effectively — I hope
that will be an important legacy.” n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
8 “The two real professional loves of my
life are veterinary medicine and education.
Nothing gives me more pleasure than to
see a student ‘get it,’” he says, adding that
he’s been thrilled to see his students go on
to experience success in the veterinary and
public health fields.
Weedon was appointed to New Hanover
County’s Board of Health in January
2005 — while still completing his MPH —
and in 2007 was elected vice chairman. He is
also a 2007 graduate of the Southeast Public
Health Leadership Institute, a program
administered by the School’s North Carolina
Institute for Public Health (see page 7).
Weedon and McNeil now organize an
annual public health forum for the local vet-
erinarian community on specific issues like
rabies awareness. Most recently, he has spear-
headed an effort to monitor the quality of the
county’s water supply, an endeavor involving
the New Hanover County Health Depart-
ment, the County Commissioners, and UNC-
Wilmington. “We’ve ruffled some feathers,”
he admits. “Learning how to play the political
game has been an important aspect of my
education, because you may know how you
think it should be done, you may know how
you want to do it, but getting elected officials
to see what you see can be a challenge.”
Weedon foresees many more opportu-
nities for leadership, given his particular
interests and skills developed through the
four separate UNC School of Public Health
programs he’s completed. “Of the top eight
infectious bioterrorism agents,” he notes,
“seven of them are zoonotic diseases (trans-
mitted between animals and people) — bird
flu, tuberculosis, West Nile virus, anthrax,
botulism, Ebola and plague.
“This illustrates the importance of vet-
erinary medicine being involved in the public
health community,” he says. “Ultimately, I’d
like to finish my career doing something at
the state or federal level, perhaps in policy
development or bioterrorism preparedness —
something that would impact a larger section
of the population. When the right thing comes
along, I’ll know it, and I’ll jump on it.” n
– B y P a U L F r e L L i C K
Weedon continued from page 19 greenberg continued from page 17
Dr. raymond Greenberg
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : t H o m a s r i c k e t t s
vices Research, his research focus is the study
of North Carolina’s health care work force
distribution and its effect on access to care
and the health status of North Carolinians.
“We have recently anticipated short-
ages of allied health workers, doctors and
dentists, and when we issue a warning that
such a thing is about to happen, usually the
General Assembly of North Carolina pays at-
tention,” says Ricketts, who is also the Sheps
Center deputy director.
“Tom is very creative in terms of thinking
about how delivery of health care relates to
the work force supply,” notes Sheps Center
Director Dr. Tim Carey, who has known him
for more than 20 years.
As head of the Health Policy Analysis
Unit at the Sheps Center, Ricketts also
works at the federal level advising the U.S.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
on health policy issues. He is editor-in-chief
of the North Carolina Medical Journal and
also serves on advisory committees of the
Association of American Medical Colleges
and AcademyHealth.
“If there’s a complex health care policy
issue, I’d want to turn to Tom rather than
anyone else. He’s an innovative and creative
thinker,” says Dr. Peggy Leatt, chair of the
School’s Department of Health Policy and
Administration, who has worked with Rick-
etts since 2002.
Recently, Ricketts has been working with
French researchers to develop a new, U.S.-style
school of public health with campuses in Paris
and Rennes. He is involved in planning and
teaching at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sante Publique and hopes the affiliation will
result in knowledge transfer between UNC
and this emerging academic institution.
“I’m hoping that our students and faculty
can spend some time working there,” he says.
“The EU has set a goal of making Europe the
leader in the knowledge-based economies.
The United States needs to respond to that,
but we also need to know how we can learn
from each other.” n
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
Dr. Thomas ricketts, (left) professor of health policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, is an avid bicyclist who has successfully completed amateur stages of the Tour de France. as director of the N.C. rural Health research Program, ricketts’ research focus is the study of North Carolina’s health care work force distribution and its effect on access to care and the health status of North Carolinians.
features & news
44 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
8 The leaders profiled in this issue tell
us that success does not come from one
person’s efforts and abilities alone, but
from their ability to inspire others to work
with them, and with each other. Working
together — as a team — is a theme that other
UNC greats have emphasized.
When Michael Jordan was a UNC fresh-
man — long before he became a superstar
athlete — his coach, Dean Smith, told him,
“Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play.”
Smith, one of the most successful coaches
in college basketball history, helped his play-
ers develop their skills by giving them the
same three goals every year, as chronicled in
his book, The Carolina Way:
Play Hard: Insist on consistent effort.
Play Smart: Execute properly. Under-
stand and execute the fundamentals.
Play Together: Play unselfishly. Don’t
focus on individual statistics.
Perhaps the strongest definition of lead-
ership that emerged from our research
was that leaders who lead by example are
inspiring.
“I think the one true form of leadership
is leadership by example,” says Dr. James
Porto, clinical assistant professor of health
policy and administration and director of
the School’s Executive Master’s Program.
“You don’t become a leader by holding a cer-
tain position — leadership has to be earned.
And it starts with ‘self-leadership,’ which is
self-discipline and self-management. That’s
manifested by success, but also by how a
person handles failure. Socrates summed it
up — ‘Know thyself!’”
So read on about our alumni, faculty
and students in this issue of Carolina Public
Health. We hope you’ll be as inspired by
these stories of leadership as we are. n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
leaders continued from page 6
cooporatefacilitate
aspire
PH
OTO
By
rO
O W
ay
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 45
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s
8 Especially in universities, where there is
a hierarchy, most of what gets done is more
by personal persuasion. A lot has to do
with creating enough excitement, enough
enthusiasm that other people voluntarily
subscribe.”
Shortly after HSSC got underway in
2004, South Carolina Governor Mark San-
ford awarded Greenberg the Order of the
Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor,
for exceptional service to the state and na-
tion. “During your time as its president,
MUSC has enjoyed national recognition
in the areas of education, research and pa-
tient care,” Sanford said at the time. Still
to come, the governor predicted, were even
greater achievements, “whose seeds have
been planted through your efforts to build
alliances with health and educational insti-
tutions, both public and private, through the
state of South Carolina.”
In building these alliances, Greenberg
has drawn on the examples of his parents,
whom he calls one of the greatest blessings
of his life. His father, the late Dr. Bernard
Greenberg, founded and chaired the Depart-
ment of Biostatistics in the UNC School of
Public Health and later served as dean. His
mother, Ruth Greenberg, has a graduate
degree in chemistry from Yale. She says her
son was a very determined and intelligent
person from the time he was very young.
In retrospect, his ending up in public health
may seem pre-ordained, but he insists he
had no clue as a Carolina undergraduate or
in medical school at Duke that he would take
that route. While doing a master’s in public
health at Harvard, he developed a passion
for epidemiology, which led him back to
the Carolina School of Public Health for a
PhD in that field. But he started to develop
much earlier the leadership skills he relies
on today.
“From my earliest memories, I was al-
ways around academic people, and it always
felt very comfortable to me to interact and
understand the culture and the values that
make you successful in an academic setting,”
he says. “A lot of that I just absorbed growing
up. It’s hard to say whether I inherited it or
acquired it being Bernie Greenberg’s son.”
He took away some specific lessons from
his father’s experience as dean during the
turbulent early 1970s, when there was much
anti-establishment sentiment.
He said of his father, “He worked very
hard during this time to be perceived for
his true values, for promoting equal op-
portunity, for helping the underserved
population.”
“Especially where there are differences of
opinion or emotional issues, solutions are
not quick,” he says he came to understand.
“You have to be persistent and consistent.
You have to listen a lot. It’s important for
people to be heard and to allow them to feel
they’re engaged in the decision-making.”
Ray Greenberg took the lesson to heart.
Colleagues like Larry Mohr say he is a leader
who lets people know he’s heard them. “He
has done a remarkable job in putting to-
gether very creative collaborations that have
really had a multiplier effect, a synergistic
effect in enhancing the effectiveness of what
we’re doing here,” Mohr says.
“We don’t have a lot of advantages in
South Carolina,” Greenberg says. “But our
recent ability to partner effectively — I hope
that will be an important legacy.” n
– B y K a T H L e e N K e a r N S
8 “The two real professional loves of my
life are veterinary medicine and education.
Nothing gives me more pleasure than to
see a student ‘get it,’” he says, adding that
he’s been thrilled to see his students go on
to experience success in the veterinary and
public health fields.
Weedon was appointed to New Hanover
County’s Board of Health in January
2005 — while still completing his MPH —
and in 2007 was elected vice chairman. He is
also a 2007 graduate of the Southeast Public
Health Leadership Institute, a program
administered by the School’s North Carolina
Institute for Public Health (see page 7).
Weedon and McNeil now organize an
annual public health forum for the local vet-
erinarian community on specific issues like
rabies awareness. Most recently, he has spear-
headed an effort to monitor the quality of the
county’s water supply, an endeavor involving
the New Hanover County Health Depart-
ment, the County Commissioners, and UNC-
Wilmington. “We’ve ruffled some feathers,”
he admits. “Learning how to play the political
game has been an important aspect of my
education, because you may know how you
think it should be done, you may know how
you want to do it, but getting elected officials
to see what you see can be a challenge.”
Weedon foresees many more opportu-
nities for leadership, given his particular
interests and skills developed through the
four separate UNC School of Public Health
programs he’s completed. “Of the top eight
infectious bioterrorism agents,” he notes,
“seven of them are zoonotic diseases (trans-
mitted between animals and people) — bird
flu, tuberculosis, West Nile virus, anthrax,
botulism, Ebola and plague.
“This illustrates the importance of vet-
erinary medicine being involved in the public
health community,” he says. “Ultimately, I’d
like to finish my career doing something at
the state or federal level, perhaps in policy
development or bioterrorism preparedness —
something that would impact a larger section
of the population. When the right thing comes
along, I’ll know it, and I’ll jump on it.” n
– B y P a U L F r e L L i C K
Weedon continued from page 19 greenberg continued from page 17
Dr. raymond Greenberg
P u b l i c H e a l t H l e a d e r s : t H o m a s r i c k e t t s
vices Research, his research focus is the study
of North Carolina’s health care work force
distribution and its effect on access to care
and the health status of North Carolinians.
“We have recently anticipated short-
ages of allied health workers, doctors and
dentists, and when we issue a warning that
such a thing is about to happen, usually the
General Assembly of North Carolina pays at-
tention,” says Ricketts, who is also the Sheps
Center deputy director.
“Tom is very creative in terms of thinking
about how delivery of health care relates to
the work force supply,” notes Sheps Center
Director Dr. Tim Carey, who has known him
for more than 20 years.
As head of the Health Policy Analysis
Unit at the Sheps Center, Ricketts also
works at the federal level advising the U.S.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
on health policy issues. He is editor-in-chief
of the North Carolina Medical Journal and
also serves on advisory committees of the
Association of American Medical Colleges
and AcademyHealth.
“If there’s a complex health care policy
issue, I’d want to turn to Tom rather than
anyone else. He’s an innovative and creative
thinker,” says Dr. Peggy Leatt, chair of the
School’s Department of Health Policy and
Administration, who has worked with Rick-
etts since 2002.
Recently, Ricketts has been working with
French researchers to develop a new, U.S.-style
school of public health with campuses in Paris
and Rennes. He is involved in planning and
teaching at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sante Publique and hopes the affiliation will
result in knowledge transfer between UNC
and this emerging academic institution.
“I’m hoping that our students and faculty
can spend some time working there,” he says.
“The EU has set a goal of making Europe the
leader in the knowledge-based economies.
The United States needs to respond to that,
but we also need to know how we can learn
from each other.” n
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
Dr. Thomas ricketts, (left) professor of health policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, is an avid bicyclist who has successfully completed amateur stages of the Tour de France. as director of the N.C. rural Health research Program, ricketts’ research focus is the study of North Carolina’s health care work force distribution and its effect on access to care and the health status of North Carolinians.
features & news
44 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
8 The leaders profiled in this issue tell
us that success does not come from one
person’s efforts and abilities alone, but
from their ability to inspire others to work
with them, and with each other. Working
together — as a team — is a theme that other
UNC greats have emphasized.
When Michael Jordan was a UNC fresh-
man — long before he became a superstar
athlete — his coach, Dean Smith, told him,
“Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play.”
Smith, one of the most successful coaches
in college basketball history, helped his play-
ers develop their skills by giving them the
same three goals every year, as chronicled in
his book, The Carolina Way:
Play Hard: Insist on consistent effort.
Play Smart: Execute properly. Under-
stand and execute the fundamentals.
Play Together: Play unselfishly. Don’t
focus on individual statistics.
Perhaps the strongest definition of lead-
ership that emerged from our research
was that leaders who lead by example are
inspiring.
“I think the one true form of leadership
is leadership by example,” says Dr. James
Porto, clinical assistant professor of health
policy and administration and director of
the School’s Executive Master’s Program.
“You don’t become a leader by holding a cer-
tain position — leadership has to be earned.
And it starts with ‘self-leadership,’ which is
self-discipline and self-management. That’s
manifested by success, but also by how a
person handles failure. Socrates summed it
up — ‘Know thyself!’”
So read on about our alumni, faculty
and students in this issue of Carolina Public
Health. We hope you’ll be as inspired by
these stories of leadership as we are. n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
leaders continued from page 6
cooporatefacilitate
aspireP
HO
TO B
y r
OO
Wa
y
features & news
46 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 47
eStabliShed by the north carolina
General Assembly last July, the University
Cancer Research Fund (UCRF) was created
to accelerate the battle against cancer in
North Carolina. Well into its first year, the
UCRF is shaping a range of cancer initiatives
at UNC, many of which will transfer to com-
munities across North Carolina.
“Cancer control is a public health is-
sue,” says UNC School of Public Health
Dean Barbara K. Rimer, a member of the
UCRF Governance Com-
mittee. “The University
Cancer Research Fund is
tangible evidence that our
legislature is committed to
invest substantial resources
in preventing cancer, find-
ing it early and treating it
optimally. Researchers at
the UNC School of Public
Health are true partners in
these initiatives. I’m also
thrilled that some of the
funds will support students
committed to cancer con-
trol research.”
The fund — established to
accelerate the battle against
cancer at UNC-Chapel
Hill’s School of Medicine
and its Lineberger Compre-
hensive Cancer Center —
received $25 million in
2007; $40 million in 2008;
and is slated to receive $50
million per year beginning
in 2009. A number of fac-
ulty at the UNC School of
Public Health hold faculty
appointments at the UNC
Lineberger Comprehensive
Cancer Center and the UNC
School of Medicine.
The first year of the UCRF is focused
on recruiting faculty and staff; developing
leading-edge programs and technology;
funding innovative grants to fuel future
programs and initiatives; and conducting
listening sessions to learn the opinions of
North Carolina citizens regarding ways that
cancer screening, prevention and treatment
can be improved in their communities.
Innovative Research in Labs, Clinics and Communities Dr. Vangie Foshee, associate professor of
health behavior and health education at the
School of Public Health, received one of 18
Innovation Awards given through the UCRF.
She received funding to conduct preliminary
studies to determine if contextual factors
(i.e., characteristics of the family, peer,
school, and neighborhood environments)
buffer or exaggerate the influences of genes
on the development of adolescent tobacco
and alcohol use. Her study will be conducted
in two rural counties in North Carolina. Her
proposal was reviewed by a team of leading
UNC faculty. Foshee’s was one of more than
120 proposals from researchers in nearly
30 departments in the Schools of Public
Health, Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmacy,
and the College of Arts and Sciences. The
team awarded $2 million for the Innovation
Awards and $500,000 for eight Clinical In-
novation Awards.
The Innovation Awards provide “a unique
opportunity to support novel, imaginative pi-
lot research projects,” says Dr. Rudy Juliano,
professor of pharmacology and chair of the
review committee for the awards. “Often
such risky work would be difficult to fund by
traditional grant mechanisms, but may have
the highest potential impact on science, and
ultimately on cancer care.” Juliano is princi-
pal investigator for the Carolina Center for
Nanotechnology Excellence. 8
December 2007, working on program de-
sign with staff from both NCIPH and the
Center for Creative Leadership — a Greens-
boro, N.C.-based leadership development
organization.
In February, three UWI staffers completed
a two-week “train-the-trainer” session in
Greensboro, titled “Leading Across Boundar-
ies.” The session brought together individuals
from Africa, India and the Caribbean who
work in leadership development roles.
Dr. Brendan Bain will direct the new
Institute. Bain is professor of community
health at the UWI, lead coordinator for the
University’s HIV/AIDS Response Program
and regional director of the Caribbean HIV/
AIDS Regional Training Network. nthe unc School of public health’S
North Carolina Institute for Public Health
is collaborating with the University of the
West Indies to create the Caribbean Health
Leadership Institute — a five-year, $2 million
initiative to enhance health leadership and
management capacity in the Caribbean and
fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region.
The rate of HIV infection in the Carib-
bean is the second highest in the world, after
Africa, according to United Nations figures,
with an estimated 230,000 people in the Ca-
ribbean living with the disease. An estimated
11,000 people in the Caribbean died of AIDS
in 2007, and AIDS remains a leading cause of
death among people ages 25 to 44.
The new Institute — funded by the Global
AIDS Program at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) — will use
onsite and distance learning activities,
individual assessment and coaching, team
projects, and a competency-based curricu-
lum to train public health leaders in ways to
improve regional HIV/AIDS programs. The
program is scheduled to launch on June 2,
2008, in Jamaica, when 25 participants from
across the English-speaking countries of the
Caribbean will begin their training.
The N.C. Institute for Public Health
(NCIPH) is providing consultation and
technical assistance to staff at the University
of the West Indies (UWI) to design, conduct
and evaluate the new program. UWI staff
spent several days in Chapel Hill, N.C., in
Caribbean Health
Leadership Institute
to launch this June
S C HO OL N E W S
features & news s c H o o l n e W s
The University Cancer Research Fund: North Carolina Arms Researchers for the Battle
Senior food induStry executiveS
and leading international nutrition sci-
entists and medical experts convened
Oct. 29–30, 2007, at UNC-Chapel Hill
for the first Global Obesity Business
Forum to discuss solutions to one of
today’s most dangerous global health
issues — obesity.
The forum is an initiative of the
UNC-Chapel Hill Interdisciplinary
Obesity Center (IDOC).
“A large number of countries, as well
as most major global food companies, are
grappling with ways to address this major
global problem,” says Dr. Barry Popkin, direc-
tor of IDOC and Distinguished Professor of
global nutrition in the UNC Schools of Public
Health and Medicine who specializes in stud-
ies of the dynamic shifts in diet, activity, and
obesity occurring across the globe.
“Ways to create a common playing field
to promote healthier diets include a vast
array of regulatory, taxation and labeling
approaches,” Popkin says. “We know that
around the world, people prefer sweet, fatty
and delicious foods and drinks. The ques-
tion is how to make those foods generally
healthy and how to reduce caloric intake to
address the large increases in obesity and
diabetes seen globally.”
The forum combined scholarly research
related to obesity with corporate case stud-
ies and proposed roadmaps for action. Short
presentations and in-depth group discussions
were held on several key areas related to ca-
loric and noncaloric sweeteners and fats.
For more information on the forum, visit
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/idoc/gobf. n
First ‘Global Obesity Business Forum’ convenes at UNC-Chapel HillSenior executives from 14 major global food
and beverage companies participate
Dr. Barry Popkin
SAV E T HE DAT ES!Thursday, September 25th, 2008
6:30 p.m.
Wo r l d o f d i f f e r e n c e d i n n e r
Honoring current members of The Rosenau Society and benefactors of professorships, scholarships,
specialty endowments and facilities
Rosenau Society membership levels are:
Dean’s Circle $1,000 - $1,999Chancellor’s Circle $2,000 - $4,999President’s Circle $5,000 - $25,000
Gifts for 2007-2008 membership are due prior to June 30th, 2008.
•
Friday, September 26th, 200811:00 a.m.
na m i ng c e r e mon y a n d c e l e b r at ion (when we become the UNC Gillings School of
Global Public Health)
•
For more information about these events, please contact the Office of External Affairs at
(919) 966-0198 or [email protected].
The event was chaired by Henry J. (Hank) Cardello, a former executive with Coca-Cola, rJr Nabisco, and General mills, who serves as the forum’s industry executive partner. Corporate participants included senior vice presidents and other senior executives from most major global food and beverage companies, including Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola, Danone, General mills, Hershey Co., Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, mcDonald’s, mead Johnson Nutritionals, Starbucks, Unilever and Wyeth Nutrition.
features & news
46 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 47
eStabliShed by the north carolina
General Assembly last July, the University
Cancer Research Fund (UCRF) was created
to accelerate the battle against cancer in
North Carolina. Well into its first year, the
UCRF is shaping a range of cancer initiatives
at UNC, many of which will transfer to com-
munities across North Carolina.
“Cancer control is a public health is-
sue,” says UNC School of Public Health
Dean Barbara K. Rimer, a member of the
UCRF Governance Com-
mittee. “The University
Cancer Research Fund is
tangible evidence that our
legislature is committed to
invest substantial resources
in preventing cancer, find-
ing it early and treating it
optimally. Researchers at
the UNC School of Public
Health are true partners in
these initiatives. I’m also
thrilled that some of the
funds will support students
committed to cancer con-
trol research.”
The fund — established to
accelerate the battle against
cancer at UNC-Chapel
Hill’s School of Medicine
and its Lineberger Compre-
hensive Cancer Center —
received $25 million in
2007; $40 million in 2008;
and is slated to receive $50
million per year beginning
in 2009. A number of fac-
ulty at the UNC School of
Public Health hold faculty
appointments at the UNC
Lineberger Comprehensive
Cancer Center and the UNC
School of Medicine.
The first year of the UCRF is focused
on recruiting faculty and staff; developing
leading-edge programs and technology;
funding innovative grants to fuel future
programs and initiatives; and conducting
listening sessions to learn the opinions of
North Carolina citizens regarding ways that
cancer screening, prevention and treatment
can be improved in their communities.
Innovative Research in Labs, Clinics and Communities Dr. Vangie Foshee, associate professor of
health behavior and health education at the
School of Public Health, received one of 18
Innovation Awards given through the UCRF.
She received funding to conduct preliminary
studies to determine if contextual factors
(i.e., characteristics of the family, peer,
school, and neighborhood environments)
buffer or exaggerate the influences of genes
on the development of adolescent tobacco
and alcohol use. Her study will be conducted
in two rural counties in North Carolina. Her
proposal was reviewed by a team of leading
UNC faculty. Foshee’s was one of more than
120 proposals from researchers in nearly
30 departments in the Schools of Public
Health, Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmacy,
and the College of Arts and Sciences. The
team awarded $2 million for the Innovation
Awards and $500,000 for eight Clinical In-
novation Awards.
The Innovation Awards provide “a unique
opportunity to support novel, imaginative pi-
lot research projects,” says Dr. Rudy Juliano,
professor of pharmacology and chair of the
review committee for the awards. “Often
such risky work would be difficult to fund by
traditional grant mechanisms, but may have
the highest potential impact on science, and
ultimately on cancer care.” Juliano is princi-
pal investigator for the Carolina Center for
Nanotechnology Excellence. 8
December 2007, working on program de-
sign with staff from both NCIPH and the
Center for Creative Leadership — a Greens-
boro, N.C.-based leadership development
organization.
In February, three UWI staffers completed
a two-week “train-the-trainer” session in
Greensboro, titled “Leading Across Boundar-
ies.” The session brought together individuals
from Africa, India and the Caribbean who
work in leadership development roles.
Dr. Brendan Bain will direct the new
Institute. Bain is professor of community
health at the UWI, lead coordinator for the
University’s HIV/AIDS Response Program
and regional director of the Caribbean HIV/
AIDS Regional Training Network. nthe unc School of public health’S
North Carolina Institute for Public Health
is collaborating with the University of the
West Indies to create the Caribbean Health
Leadership Institute — a five-year, $2 million
initiative to enhance health leadership and
management capacity in the Caribbean and
fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region.
The rate of HIV infection in the Carib-
bean is the second highest in the world, after
Africa, according to United Nations figures,
with an estimated 230,000 people in the Ca-
ribbean living with the disease. An estimated
11,000 people in the Caribbean died of AIDS
in 2007, and AIDS remains a leading cause of
death among people ages 25 to 44.
The new Institute — funded by the Global
AIDS Program at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) — will use
onsite and distance learning activities,
individual assessment and coaching, team
projects, and a competency-based curricu-
lum to train public health leaders in ways to
improve regional HIV/AIDS programs. The
program is scheduled to launch on June 2,
2008, in Jamaica, when 25 participants from
across the English-speaking countries of the
Caribbean will begin their training.
The N.C. Institute for Public Health
(NCIPH) is providing consultation and
technical assistance to staff at the University
of the West Indies (UWI) to design, conduct
and evaluate the new program. UWI staff
spent several days in Chapel Hill, N.C., in
Caribbean Health
Leadership Institute
to launch this June
S C HO OL N E W S
features & news s c H o o l n e W s
The University Cancer Research Fund: North Carolina Arms Researchers for the Battle
Senior food induStry executiveS
and leading international nutrition sci-
entists and medical experts convened
Oct. 29–30, 2007, at UNC-Chapel Hill
for the first Global Obesity Business
Forum to discuss solutions to one of
today’s most dangerous global health
issues — obesity.
The forum is an initiative of the
UNC-Chapel Hill Interdisciplinary
Obesity Center (IDOC).
“A large number of countries, as well
as most major global food companies, are
grappling with ways to address this major
global problem,” says Dr. Barry Popkin, direc-
tor of IDOC and Distinguished Professor of
global nutrition in the UNC Schools of Public
Health and Medicine who specializes in stud-
ies of the dynamic shifts in diet, activity, and
obesity occurring across the globe.
“Ways to create a common playing field
to promote healthier diets include a vast
array of regulatory, taxation and labeling
approaches,” Popkin says. “We know that
around the world, people prefer sweet, fatty
and delicious foods and drinks. The ques-
tion is how to make those foods generally
healthy and how to reduce caloric intake to
address the large increases in obesity and
diabetes seen globally.”
The forum combined scholarly research
related to obesity with corporate case stud-
ies and proposed roadmaps for action. Short
presentations and in-depth group discussions
were held on several key areas related to ca-
loric and noncaloric sweeteners and fats.
For more information on the forum, visit
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/idoc/gobf. n
First ‘Global Obesity Business Forum’ convenes at UNC-Chapel HillSenior executives from 14 major global food
and beverage companies participate
Dr. Barry Popkin
SAV E T HE DAT ES!Thursday, September 25th, 2008
6:30 p.m.
Wo r l d o f d i f f e r e n c e d i n n e r
Honoring current members of The Rosenau Society and benefactors of professorships, scholarships,
specialty endowments and facilities
Rosenau Society membership levels are:
Dean’s Circle $1,000 - $1,999Chancellor’s Circle $2,000 - $4,999President’s Circle $5,000 - $25,000
Gifts for 2007-2008 membership are due prior to June 30th, 2008.
•
Friday, September 26th, 200811:00 a.m.
na m i ng c e r e mon y a n d c e l e b r at ion (when we become the UNC Gillings School of
Global Public Health)
•
For more information about these events, please contact the Office of External Affairs at
(919) 966-0198 or [email protected].
The event was chaired by Henry J. (Hank) Cardello, a former executive with Coca-Cola, rJr Nabisco, and General mills, who serves as the forum’s industry executive partner. Corporate participants included senior vice presidents and other senior executives from most major global food and beverage companies, including Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola, Danone, General mills, Hershey Co., Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, mcDonald’s, mead Johnson Nutritionals, Starbucks, Unilever and Wyeth Nutrition.
features & news
48 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 49
School of Public Health (HSPH). Her lec-
ture, titled “The Science and Epidemiology
of Racism and Health in the United States:
an Ecosocial Perspec-
tive,” addressed how
racial inequalities in
social conditions be-
come biologically em-
bodied over lifetimes
and across genera-
tions, creating racial
and ethnic health
inequities. Krieger is
associate director of the Harvard Center for
Society and Health and co-director of the
HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on
Women, Gender and Health.
This year’s conference was made pos-
sible by a lead gift from Bodil and George
Gellman. Mr. Gellman is a 1969 graduate
of UNC’s Department of Economics. This
gift is the largest single contribution from
individual donors in the 29-year history of
the conference.
For more information on the confer-
ence, visit www.minority.unc.edu/sph/
minconf/2008. n
More than 600 StudentS, educatorS and health professionals from across the
nation attended the 29th Annual Minority
Health Conference on Feb. 29, 2008, at the
William and Ida Friday Center for Continu-
ing Education. Another 1,000 people partici-
pated in the event via satellite downlink and
webcast, making it the largest minority health
conference in the history of the event.
“I see this as a testament to the priority
that has been placed on minority health
and issues impacting people of color,” says
Janelle Armstrong-Brown, a doctoral stu-
dent in health behavior and health education
who co-chaired the conference with Eboni
Taylor, a PhD student in epidemiology. “We
look forward to another successful year and
for success many years to come.”
The conference’s 10th Annual William T.
Small Jr. Keynote Lecture was given by Dr.
Nancy Krieger, professor of society, human
development, and health at the Harvard
features & news s c H o o l n e W s
School’s 29th Annual Minority Health Conference attracts record turnout
Partnering with North Carolina CommunitiesA key UCRF component involves population
scientists who move findings and innovative
programs into communities.
“The UCRF funds are critical to pro-
mote broad community outreach and dis-
semination of effective programs for cancer
prevention and control as well as cancer
survivorship,” says Dr. Marci Campbell,
professor of nutrition in the UNC School of
Public Health and a program leader for popu-
lation sciences for the UNC Lineberger/UCRF
Program Planning Committee. “The funds
will support recruitment of additional senior
faculty in key areas such as health communi-
cation, dissemination and health outcomes
research. Our recent designation as a Lance
Armstrong Foundation Center of Excellence
in Cancer Survivorship (see page 54) reflects
recognition of our strengths in areas such as
community interventions to reduce health
disparities, a major priority of UCRF.”
Dr. Andy Olshan, professor and chair of
epidemiology in the UNC School of Public
Health and leader of UNC Lineberger’s
cancer epidemiology program, notes, “The
UCRF has already provided critical support
to enhance and develop new important ini-
tiatives in population sciences by partnering
with the North Carolina Central Cancer
Registry to expand its capabilities to capture
timely and high-quality data on cancer inci-
dence and mortality in North Carolina.
Two new major projects are a cohort study
of cancer patients diagnosed and treated at
UNC that will provide a tremendous re-
source for the interdisciplinary examina-
tion of survivorship; and an important new
study, starting in June 2008, of breast cancer
in North Carolina — the Carolina Breast
Cancer Study 3. This study will examine
the causes and probable outcomes of vari-
ous types of breast cancer among African
American women in North Carolina.
The UCRF is funding numerous other
collaborations focused on ensuring that
North Carolinians get the best possible can-
cer care. To read in greater depth about the
UCRF, visit: www.cancer.unc.edu/ucrf. n
– B y D i a N N e S H a W a N D e m i Ly J . S m i T H
Dr. Nancy Kreiger
Che Smith, UNC-Chapel Hill biostatistics doctoral student, and afabwaje (afa) Jatau, master’s student in health behavior and health education at UNC-Chapel Hill, volunteer at the minority Student Caucus exhibit at the UNC School of Public Health’s annual minority Health Conference, held Feb. 29, 2008. The event attracted more than 600 students, educators and health professionals from across the nation. another 1,000 people participated via satellite downlink and webcast.
unc School of public health faculty are collaborating with the Caro-lina Entrepreneurial Initiative at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School to offer a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship.
The new certificate program, which
launched this spring, offers graduate
students, post-docs and fulltime faculty
and staff an opportunity to explore how
entrepreneurship is changing their fields
and how to conceive, plan and execute
new commercial and nonprofit ventures.
The program has three tracks: artistic,
life sciences and public health entrepre-
neurship. Plans are underway for tracks
in commercial and social entrepreneur-
ship. The certificate requires completion
of a nine-credit-hour course sequence
taken in parallel with students’ core de-
gree programs.
Dr. Alice Ammerman, professor of
nutrition in the UNC Schools of Public
Health and Medicine and director of
the Center for Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention, oversees the cer-
tificate’s public health track. For more
information, visit www.kenaninstitute.
unc.edu/centers/cei. n
Graduate certificate in public health entrepreneurship now available
David murdock speaks with UNC School of Public Health student andrea Nikolai following his February 2007 lec-ture in a public health entrepreneurship class taught by School of Public Health faculty Drs. alice ammerman and Daniel Pomp. murdock, the sole owner of Dole Food Co. and real estate giant Castle & Cooke, inc., has financed the N.C. research Campus in Kannapolis, N.C. a new research building of the Nutrition research institute — part of the School of Public Health located on the Kannapolis campus — is due to be open in June, 2008.
PH
OTO
By
em
iLy
FO
rD
/ S
aLi
SBU
ry
PO
ST
features & news
48 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 49
School of Public Health (HSPH). Her lec-
ture, titled “The Science and Epidemiology
of Racism and Health in the United States:
an Ecosocial Perspec-
tive,” addressed how
racial inequalities in
social conditions be-
come biologically em-
bodied over lifetimes
and across genera-
tions, creating racial
and ethnic health
inequities. Krieger is
associate director of the Harvard Center for
Society and Health and co-director of the
HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on
Women, Gender and Health.
This year’s conference was made pos-
sible by a lead gift from Bodil and George
Gellman. Mr. Gellman is a 1969 graduate
of UNC’s Department of Economics. This
gift is the largest single contribution from
individual donors in the 29-year history of
the conference.
For more information on the confer-
ence, visit www.minority.unc.edu/sph/
minconf/2008. n
More than 600 StudentS, educatorS and health professionals from across the
nation attended the 29th Annual Minority
Health Conference on Feb. 29, 2008, at the
William and Ida Friday Center for Continu-
ing Education. Another 1,000 people partici-
pated in the event via satellite downlink and
webcast, making it the largest minority health
conference in the history of the event.
“I see this as a testament to the priority
that has been placed on minority health
and issues impacting people of color,” says
Janelle Armstrong-Brown, a doctoral stu-
dent in health behavior and health education
who co-chaired the conference with Eboni
Taylor, a PhD student in epidemiology. “We
look forward to another successful year and
for success many years to come.”
The conference’s 10th Annual William T.
Small Jr. Keynote Lecture was given by Dr.
Nancy Krieger, professor of society, human
development, and health at the Harvard
features & news s c H o o l n e W s
School’s 29th Annual Minority Health Conference attracts record turnout
Partnering with North Carolina CommunitiesA key UCRF component involves population
scientists who move findings and innovative
programs into communities.
“The UCRF funds are critical to pro-
mote broad community outreach and dis-
semination of effective programs for cancer
prevention and control as well as cancer
survivorship,” says Dr. Marci Campbell,
professor of nutrition in the UNC School of
Public Health and a program leader for popu-
lation sciences for the UNC Lineberger/UCRF
Program Planning Committee. “The funds
will support recruitment of additional senior
faculty in key areas such as health communi-
cation, dissemination and health outcomes
research. Our recent designation as a Lance
Armstrong Foundation Center of Excellence
in Cancer Survivorship (see page 54) reflects
recognition of our strengths in areas such as
community interventions to reduce health
disparities, a major priority of UCRF.”
Dr. Andy Olshan, professor and chair of
epidemiology in the UNC School of Public
Health and leader of UNC Lineberger’s
cancer epidemiology program, notes, “The
UCRF has already provided critical support
to enhance and develop new important ini-
tiatives in population sciences by partnering
with the North Carolina Central Cancer
Registry to expand its capabilities to capture
timely and high-quality data on cancer inci-
dence and mortality in North Carolina.
Two new major projects are a cohort study
of cancer patients diagnosed and treated at
UNC that will provide a tremendous re-
source for the interdisciplinary examina-
tion of survivorship; and an important new
study, starting in June 2008, of breast cancer
in North Carolina — the Carolina Breast
Cancer Study 3. This study will examine
the causes and probable outcomes of vari-
ous types of breast cancer among African
American women in North Carolina.
The UCRF is funding numerous other
collaborations focused on ensuring that
North Carolinians get the best possible can-
cer care. To read in greater depth about the
UCRF, visit: www.cancer.unc.edu/ucrf. n
– B y D i a N N e S H a W a N D e m i Ly J . S m i T H
Dr. Nancy Kreiger
Che Smith, UNC-Chapel Hill biostatistics doctoral student, and afabwaje (afa) Jatau, master’s student in health behavior and health education at UNC-Chapel Hill, volunteer at the minority Student Caucus exhibit at the UNC School of Public Health’s annual minority Health Conference, held Feb. 29, 2008. The event attracted more than 600 students, educators and health professionals from across the nation. another 1,000 people participated via satellite downlink and webcast.
unc School of public health faculty are collaborating with the Caro-lina Entrepreneurial Initiative at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School to offer a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship.
The new certificate program, which
launched this spring, offers graduate
students, post-docs and fulltime faculty
and staff an opportunity to explore how
entrepreneurship is changing their fields
and how to conceive, plan and execute
new commercial and nonprofit ventures.
The program has three tracks: artistic,
life sciences and public health entrepre-
neurship. Plans are underway for tracks
in commercial and social entrepreneur-
ship. The certificate requires completion
of a nine-credit-hour course sequence
taken in parallel with students’ core de-
gree programs.
Dr. Alice Ammerman, professor of
nutrition in the UNC Schools of Public
Health and Medicine and director of
the Center for Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention, oversees the cer-
tificate’s public health track. For more
information, visit www.kenaninstitute.
unc.edu/centers/cei. n
Graduate certificate in public health entrepreneurship now available
David murdock speaks with UNC School of Public Health student andrea Nikolai following his February 2007 lec-ture in a public health entrepreneurship class taught by School of Public Health faculty Drs. alice ammerman and Daniel Pomp. murdock, the sole owner of Dole Food Co. and real estate giant Castle & Cooke, inc., has financed the N.C. research Campus in Kannapolis, N.C. a new research building of the Nutrition research institute — part of the School of Public Health located on the Kannapolis campus — is due to be open in June, 2008.
PH
OTO
By
em
iLy
FO
rD
/ S
aLi
SBU
ry
PO
ST
features & news
50 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 51
features & news
InMemoriam
“The community of Al Tyroler’s former stu-
dents, colleagues and friends mobilized to
celebrate the life of this outstanding public
health scientist, mentor and lifelong learner,”
says Dr. Gerardo Heiss, Kenan Distinguished
Professor of epidemiology at the UNC
School of Public Health. “We received mov-
ing contributions from many parts of the
world, and vivid testimonials were shared by
the many who came to speak with affection
and gratitude of this wise teacher and bril-
liant colleague. We were particularly pleased
that Al’s family could be at the center of this
celebration of his life.”
Born Sept. 5, 1924, in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Tyroler had a transformative influence on the
field of epidemiology. Since the early 1950s,
his enthusiasm about epidemiology and de-
sire to harness this new discipline to improve
the wellbeing of communities contributed to
the shaping of cardiovascular epidemiology,
its mission and accomplishments.
Tyroler graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Ohio University in 1943, received a doc-
torate in medicine from New York Uni-
versity College of Medicine in 1947, and
completed additional medical training at
Cornell University, New York Medical Col-
lege and Metropolitan Hospital in New
York City. He served in the U.S. Air Force
Medical Corps for two years before being
appointed research director of the Occupa-
tional Health Services and, soon after, 8
Tyroler MeMorialized for TransforMaTive influence on field of epideMiology
dr. her Man alfred (“al”)
tyroler, aluMni diStinguiShed
profeSSor eMerituS of epideMiol-
ogy at the unc School of public
health, died feb.18, 2007. he waS
82. a MeMorial Service attended by
More than 175 people waS held in hiS
honor at unc on Sept. 28, 2007.
Dr. Herman alfred Tyroler
is a six-time nominee for Canada’s top report-
ing prize, the National Newspaper Award,
and a back-to-back winner of the Interna-
tional Reporting Award. She was the recipient
of the 2003, 2004 and 2006 Amnesty Interna-
tional Award for Human Rights Reporting,
for reports from war zones in Uganda and
Sudan. She has reported from more than 40
countries around the world.
Dr. Sheila Leatherman, research professor
of health policy and administration at the
UNC School of Public Health, spoke on
“Microcredit and Global Health” at a Dean’s
Lecture Series presentation on Sept. 24,
2007, at the School.
Microcredit is a
financial innovation
that seeks to address
the issue of global
poverty. Small loans
are extended to the
impoverished or un-
employed so they can
build independent
businesses. Leatherman is researching the
impact of microcredit on global health.
Leatherman is distinguished associate of
Darwin College at the University of Cam-
bridge in England and is the first Gillings
Visiting Professor at the UNC School of
Public Health. The professorship was estab-
lished last year with funding from Dennis
Gillings, CBE (Commander of the British
Empire), and his wife, Joan. Gillings, a
former UNC biostatistics professor, is chair-
man and chief executive officer of Quintiles
Transnational Corp. n
Office of Drug Evaluation, which regulates
cardio-renal, neuropharmacologic and psy-
chopharmacologic drugs.
Temple has written extensively on the
design and conduct of clinical trials. His
lecture, titled “FDA Drug Approval Process,
Potential Efficiencies and Active Control
Trials,” was sponsored by the UNC Center
for Innovative Clinical Trials and the School
of Public Health.
Stephanie Nolen, Africa correspondent for
the Globe and Mail, the national newspaper
of Canada, spoke movingly about Africa’s
AIDS Pandemic at a lecture at the School on
Nov. 1, 2007. The presentation, titled “28:
Telling the Human Stories Behind Africa’s
AIDS Pandemic,” was part of the Dean’s
Lecture Series.
Nolen is the author of three books — 28:
Stories of AIDS in Africa, Promised the Moon:
the Untold Story of the First Women in the
Space Race and Shakespeare’s Face. At 35, she
Dr. Sheila Leatherman
Stephanie Nolen
Suggest a speaker you would like us to bring to the UNC School of Public Health. Submit your nomina-tion to the School’s Speaker Selec-tion Committee by contacting Jerry Salak at [email protected] or 919-843-0661. The committee se-lects speakers for the Dean’s Lecture Series, Commencement, Foard Lec-ture and other special events.
Dr. Jonathan B. Oberlander, associate pro-
fessor of health policy and administration
at the UNC School of Public Health, pre-
sented the 2008 Fred
T. Foard Jr. Memorial
Lecture on April 14,
2008, at the William
and Ida Friday Center
for Continuing Edu-
cation in Chapel Hill.
Oberlander is associ-
ate professor of social
medicine at the UNC
School of Medicine,
adjunct political science associate professor at
UNC and research fellow at the UNC Cecil G.
Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
He is a nationally-recognized expert on
health care reform — a major issue in the
2008 presidential race when candidates are
being called upon to articulate plans for ex-
panding coverage while controlling costs. To
shed light on this issue, Oberlander authored
the lead perspectives in the Oct. 25 and
Nov. 22 issues of the New England Journal
of Medicine. The first article explored why
past health reform efforts have failed; the
second analyzed the health reform plans of
current leading presidential candidates (see
www.nejm.org).
Michael Neidorff, chairman and chief ex-
ecutive officer of the Centene Corp., a
multi-line managed-care company based in
St. Louis, lectured at the School on March
17, 2008. The presentation was the inaugural
lecture of the School’s Distinguished Visitors
Program and was titled “Academic Research
to Practical Policy:
Quality, Cost and
Ethical Issues.” Cen-
tene provides Medic-
aid services and other
specialty programs to
health care organiza-
tions in seven states
in the northeastern
and southern United
States. Neidorff has guided Centene to a
leadership role in its field through marrying
progressive business and quality improve-
ment practices with cutting-edge health pro-
motion and disease management programs
to serve its clients.
Dr. Robert Temple, director of the Office of
Medical Policy in the Center for Drug Evalu-
ation and Research at the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, spoke at the School
on March 6, 2008. His office is responsible
for regulating the promotion of drugs and
assessing quality of clinical trials. Temple, a
medical doctor, also is acting director of the
Numerous distinguished individuals have made notable presentations at the UNC School of Public Health over the past
several months. Below are highlights of a few who have shared their experiences and expertise in special lectures at our School. To hear these lectures online, visit www.sph.unc.edu/media/webcasts.html.
School hosts numerous distinguished lectures
Dr. Jonathan Oberlander
michael Neidorff
Dr. robert Temple
features & news
50 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 51
features & news
InMemoriam
“The community of Al Tyroler’s former stu-
dents, colleagues and friends mobilized to
celebrate the life of this outstanding public
health scientist, mentor and lifelong learner,”
says Dr. Gerardo Heiss, Kenan Distinguished
Professor of epidemiology at the UNC
School of Public Health. “We received mov-
ing contributions from many parts of the
world, and vivid testimonials were shared by
the many who came to speak with affection
and gratitude of this wise teacher and bril-
liant colleague. We were particularly pleased
that Al’s family could be at the center of this
celebration of his life.”
Born Sept. 5, 1924, in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Tyroler had a transformative influence on the
field of epidemiology. Since the early 1950s,
his enthusiasm about epidemiology and de-
sire to harness this new discipline to improve
the wellbeing of communities contributed to
the shaping of cardiovascular epidemiology,
its mission and accomplishments.
Tyroler graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Ohio University in 1943, received a doc-
torate in medicine from New York Uni-
versity College of Medicine in 1947, and
completed additional medical training at
Cornell University, New York Medical Col-
lege and Metropolitan Hospital in New
York City. He served in the U.S. Air Force
Medical Corps for two years before being
appointed research director of the Occupa-
tional Health Services and, soon after, 8
Tyroler MeMorialized for TransforMaTive influence on field of epideMiology
dr. her Man alfred (“al”)
tyroler, aluMni diStinguiShed
profeSSor eMerituS of epideMiol-
ogy at the unc School of public
health, died feb.18, 2007. he waS
82. a MeMorial Service attended by
More than 175 people waS held in hiS
honor at unc on Sept. 28, 2007.
Dr. Herman alfred Tyroler
is a six-time nominee for Canada’s top report-
ing prize, the National Newspaper Award,
and a back-to-back winner of the Interna-
tional Reporting Award. She was the recipient
of the 2003, 2004 and 2006 Amnesty Interna-
tional Award for Human Rights Reporting,
for reports from war zones in Uganda and
Sudan. She has reported from more than 40
countries around the world.
Dr. Sheila Leatherman, research professor
of health policy and administration at the
UNC School of Public Health, spoke on
“Microcredit and Global Health” at a Dean’s
Lecture Series presentation on Sept. 24,
2007, at the School.
Microcredit is a
financial innovation
that seeks to address
the issue of global
poverty. Small loans
are extended to the
impoverished or un-
employed so they can
build independent
businesses. Leatherman is researching the
impact of microcredit on global health.
Leatherman is distinguished associate of
Darwin College at the University of Cam-
bridge in England and is the first Gillings
Visiting Professor at the UNC School of
Public Health. The professorship was estab-
lished last year with funding from Dennis
Gillings, CBE (Commander of the British
Empire), and his wife, Joan. Gillings, a
former UNC biostatistics professor, is chair-
man and chief executive officer of Quintiles
Transnational Corp. n
Office of Drug Evaluation, which regulates
cardio-renal, neuropharmacologic and psy-
chopharmacologic drugs.
Temple has written extensively on the
design and conduct of clinical trials. His
lecture, titled “FDA Drug Approval Process,
Potential Efficiencies and Active Control
Trials,” was sponsored by the UNC Center
for Innovative Clinical Trials and the School
of Public Health.
Stephanie Nolen, Africa correspondent for
the Globe and Mail, the national newspaper
of Canada, spoke movingly about Africa’s
AIDS Pandemic at a lecture at the School on
Nov. 1, 2007. The presentation, titled “28:
Telling the Human Stories Behind Africa’s
AIDS Pandemic,” was part of the Dean’s
Lecture Series.
Nolen is the author of three books — 28:
Stories of AIDS in Africa, Promised the Moon:
the Untold Story of the First Women in the
Space Race and Shakespeare’s Face. At 35, she
Dr. Sheila Leatherman
Stephanie Nolen
Suggest a speaker you would like us to bring to the UNC School of Public Health. Submit your nomina-tion to the School’s Speaker Selec-tion Committee by contacting Jerry Salak at [email protected] or 919-843-0661. The committee se-lects speakers for the Dean’s Lecture Series, Commencement, Foard Lec-ture and other special events.
Dr. Jonathan B. Oberlander, associate pro-
fessor of health policy and administration
at the UNC School of Public Health, pre-
sented the 2008 Fred
T. Foard Jr. Memorial
Lecture on April 14,
2008, at the William
and Ida Friday Center
for Continuing Edu-
cation in Chapel Hill.
Oberlander is associ-
ate professor of social
medicine at the UNC
School of Medicine,
adjunct political science associate professor at
UNC and research fellow at the UNC Cecil G.
Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
He is a nationally-recognized expert on
health care reform — a major issue in the
2008 presidential race when candidates are
being called upon to articulate plans for ex-
panding coverage while controlling costs. To
shed light on this issue, Oberlander authored
the lead perspectives in the Oct. 25 and
Nov. 22 issues of the New England Journal
of Medicine. The first article explored why
past health reform efforts have failed; the
second analyzed the health reform plans of
current leading presidential candidates (see
www.nejm.org).
Michael Neidorff, chairman and chief ex-
ecutive officer of the Centene Corp., a
multi-line managed-care company based in
St. Louis, lectured at the School on March
17, 2008. The presentation was the inaugural
lecture of the School’s Distinguished Visitors
Program and was titled “Academic Research
to Practical Policy:
Quality, Cost and
Ethical Issues.” Cen-
tene provides Medic-
aid services and other
specialty programs to
health care organiza-
tions in seven states
in the northeastern
and southern United
States. Neidorff has guided Centene to a
leadership role in its field through marrying
progressive business and quality improve-
ment practices with cutting-edge health pro-
motion and disease management programs
to serve its clients.
Dr. Robert Temple, director of the Office of
Medical Policy in the Center for Drug Evalu-
ation and Research at the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, spoke at the School
on March 6, 2008. His office is responsible
for regulating the promotion of drugs and
assessing quality of clinical trials. Temple, a
medical doctor, also is acting director of the
Numerous distinguished individuals have made notable presentations at the UNC School of Public Health over the past
several months. Below are highlights of a few who have shared their experiences and expertise in special lectures at our School. To hear these lectures online, visit www.sph.unc.edu/media/webcasts.html.
School hosts numerous distinguished lectures
Dr. Jonathan Oberlander
michael Neidorff
Dr. robert Temple
features & news
52 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 53
features & news
Okun was hailed worldwide for his ground-
breaking work in identifying pristine water
sources, water management, water supply,
pollution control, water reclamation and
reuse, and watershed protection issues.
In 2006, he received lifetime achieve-
ment awards from Orange Water and Sewer
Authority (OWASA) in Orange County,
N.C., the national Environmental and Water
Resources Institute and the International
Water Association.
During his career, Okun worked in 89
countries and consulted with municipal and
legislative planning committees throughout
the United States. Among Okun’s many con-
tributions, he helped design a water treat-
ment plant in Bangkok, Thailand; establish
a graduate program in sanitary engineering
in Lima, Peru; and studied water supply and
pollution control in China for the World
Bank. At home in Chapel Hill, he led the
campaign to build Cane Creek Dam and
Reservoir in the 1980s to ensure the most
pristine water source possible for Chapel
Hill and UNC campus.
Okun began his career at UNC in 1952
and served as chair of the Department
of Environmental Sciences and Engineer-
ing from 1955 to 1973. During his time as
chair, the department grew from three to 25
faculty members. Although Okun retired
from teaching in 1982, he remained actively
involved in the profession through writing,
lecturing and consulting, until his death.
“Dan Okun cared deeply about his school,
his community, his state and his world,” says
Dean Barbara K. Rimer. “And he turned that
commitment into action, through water proj-
ects and social action. Few professors have
influenced more students, more profession-
als, or more policy decisions around the world
than Dr. Okun. His work has influenced in-
ternational policy-making for organizations
like the World Bank, United Nations and the
World Health Organization.
There is nowhere I go that
people don’t talk about Dan
with awe.”
Okun was also a generous
donor to the UNC School
of Public Health. Over the
course of his career, he gave
generously to the School’s
Department of Environmen-
tal Sciences and Engineering,
including funds to create the
Dan Okun Scholarship Fund. This endowed
scholarship is used to recruit and support
promising master’s level environmental en-
gineering students. In 2004, he also made
donations to augment the Daniel A. Okun
Distinguished Professorship in environmen-
tal sciences and engineering — an endowed
professorship held by Dr. Philip C. Singer and
established in 1999 by School faculty, students
and alumni to honor Okun. Finally, in 2007,
Okun made a gift to name the chair’s suite in
the School’s Department of Environmental
Sciences and Engineering.
Okun’s gifts to UNC were not limited to
the School of Public Health. He also made
significant gifts for the renovation of Me-
morial Hall and to the Sonja Haynes Stone
Center for Black Culture and History.
Donations may be made in Okun’s mem-
ory to the Dan Okun Scholarship Fund.
Please make checks out to “UNC-CH School
of Public Health Foundation, Inc.” and write
“Dan Okun Scholarship Fund” in the memo
field. Mail gifts to UNC School of Public
Health, P.O. Box 309, Chapel Hill, N.C.
27514-0309. You may give online at www.
sph.unc.edu/giving. For more information,
contact Lyne Gamble at (919) 966-8368 or
okun reMeMbered for pioneering Work in WaTer engineering
dr. daniel a. okun, unc kenan diStinguiShed
univerSity profeSSor eMerituS of environMental
engineering, died dec.10, 2007, in chapel hill, n.c. he waS 90.
Dr. Daniel Okuncr aig l. Michalak, administrator
of the North Carolina Local Health
Agency Accreditation Program man-
aged by the North Carolina Institute
for Public Health (NCIPH) within the
UNC School of Public Health, died on
Aug. 20, 2007, after a valiant fight with
leukemia. He was 59.
Michalak came to UNC in 2005,
along with his wife, Sarah, a university
librarian and associate provost for uni-
versity libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill.
With an MBA from the University of
California at Los Angeles, administra-
tive experience at the University of Utah
and the University of California system,
and several years in business, Michalak
was a perfect fit to establish and admin-
ister the state’s first-ever local health
agency accreditation program.
“Craig was a dear friend and a val-
ued colleague,” says Dr. Edward Baker,
NCIPH director. “So many of us ben-
efited from his selfless service to public
health in North Carolina and across the
nation. Craig creatively built and man-
aged the North Carolina Local Health
Agency Accreditation Program, the first
such program in the United States. The
program he helped build will serve as a
lasting legacy to his dedicated service, and
it will stand as a model for others across
the nation to emulate.”
Donations may be made in Micha-
lak’s memory to a fund established in his
honor by UNC Libraries. Please make
checks out to “University Library,” and
write “Craig Michalak Memorial Library
Fund” in the memo field. Mail gifts to
the Library Development Office, CB #
3900, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
N.C. 27514-8890. For more information,
contact Sarah Poteete at (919) 843-5660
or [email protected]. n
Michalak coMMeMor aTed for selfless service To public healTh
8 research director of the Health Research
Foundation in Asheville, N.C.
In 1960, Tyroler joined the UNC Depart-
ment of Epidemiology faculty. He became
a full professor in 1967 and was named
Alumni Distinguished Professor in 1979.
His career at UNC spanned more than 40
years, during which he achieved national
prominence for his work in the United States
and internationally, including long-time
consultancy to the World Health Organiza-
tion and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. His influential studies in
the areas of cardiovascular disease, genetic
epidemiology, minority health, women’s
health and international health reflect the
range of his intellectual curiosity.
Tyroler earned election to the Institute
of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
His numerous honors include the American
Heart Association’s Distinguished Achieve-
ment Award and Ancel Keys Lecture; the
American Public Health Association’s John
Snow Award; the UNC School of Public
Health’s Edward G. McGavran Award for
Excellence in Teaching and the Bernard G.
Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award.
As a particularly fitting way to honor Al
Tyroler’s life-long dedication to teaching and
mentoring, a scholarship was established in
his honor at UNC. Donations may be made
in Tyroler’s memory with checks to “UNC-
CH School of Public Health Foundation,
Inc.” referencing “H. A. Tyroler Scholarship”
in the memo field. Mail gifts to UNC School
of Public Health, P.O. Box 309, Chapel Hill,
N.C. 27514-0309. You may give online at
www.sph.unc.edu/giving. For more infor-
mation, contact Stephen Couch at (919)
966-0219 or [email protected]. n
Craig michalak
Dr. al Tyroler, in a photo taken circa 1977
PH
OTO
By
Je
aN
Ne
Wa
rN
er
Dr. Daniel Okun, in a photo taken circa 1960s
features & news
52 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 53
features & news
Okun was hailed worldwide for his ground-
breaking work in identifying pristine water
sources, water management, water supply,
pollution control, water reclamation and
reuse, and watershed protection issues.
In 2006, he received lifetime achieve-
ment awards from Orange Water and Sewer
Authority (OWASA) in Orange County,
N.C., the national Environmental and Water
Resources Institute and the International
Water Association.
During his career, Okun worked in 89
countries and consulted with municipal and
legislative planning committees throughout
the United States. Among Okun’s many con-
tributions, he helped design a water treat-
ment plant in Bangkok, Thailand; establish
a graduate program in sanitary engineering
in Lima, Peru; and studied water supply and
pollution control in China for the World
Bank. At home in Chapel Hill, he led the
campaign to build Cane Creek Dam and
Reservoir in the 1980s to ensure the most
pristine water source possible for Chapel
Hill and UNC campus.
Okun began his career at UNC in 1952
and served as chair of the Department
of Environmental Sciences and Engineer-
ing from 1955 to 1973. During his time as
chair, the department grew from three to 25
faculty members. Although Okun retired
from teaching in 1982, he remained actively
involved in the profession through writing,
lecturing and consulting, until his death.
“Dan Okun cared deeply about his school,
his community, his state and his world,” says
Dean Barbara K. Rimer. “And he turned that
commitment into action, through water proj-
ects and social action. Few professors have
influenced more students, more profession-
als, or more policy decisions around the world
than Dr. Okun. His work has influenced in-
ternational policy-making for organizations
like the World Bank, United Nations and the
World Health Organization.
There is nowhere I go that
people don’t talk about Dan
with awe.”
Okun was also a generous
donor to the UNC School
of Public Health. Over the
course of his career, he gave
generously to the School’s
Department of Environmen-
tal Sciences and Engineering,
including funds to create the
Dan Okun Scholarship Fund. This endowed
scholarship is used to recruit and support
promising master’s level environmental en-
gineering students. In 2004, he also made
donations to augment the Daniel A. Okun
Distinguished Professorship in environmen-
tal sciences and engineering — an endowed
professorship held by Dr. Philip C. Singer and
established in 1999 by School faculty, students
and alumni to honor Okun. Finally, in 2007,
Okun made a gift to name the chair’s suite in
the School’s Department of Environmental
Sciences and Engineering.
Okun’s gifts to UNC were not limited to
the School of Public Health. He also made
significant gifts for the renovation of Me-
morial Hall and to the Sonja Haynes Stone
Center for Black Culture and History.
Donations may be made in Okun’s mem-
ory to the Dan Okun Scholarship Fund.
Please make checks out to “UNC-CH School
of Public Health Foundation, Inc.” and write
“Dan Okun Scholarship Fund” in the memo
field. Mail gifts to UNC School of Public
Health, P.O. Box 309, Chapel Hill, N.C.
27514-0309. You may give online at www.
sph.unc.edu/giving. For more information,
contact Lyne Gamble at (919) 966-8368 or
okun reMeMbered for pioneering Work in WaTer engineering
dr. daniel a. okun, unc kenan diStinguiShed
univerSity profeSSor eMerituS of environMental
engineering, died dec.10, 2007, in chapel hill, n.c. he waS 90.
Dr. Daniel Okuncr aig l. Michalak, administrator
of the North Carolina Local Health
Agency Accreditation Program man-
aged by the North Carolina Institute
for Public Health (NCIPH) within the
UNC School of Public Health, died on
Aug. 20, 2007, after a valiant fight with
leukemia. He was 59.
Michalak came to UNC in 2005,
along with his wife, Sarah, a university
librarian and associate provost for uni-
versity libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill.
With an MBA from the University of
California at Los Angeles, administra-
tive experience at the University of Utah
and the University of California system,
and several years in business, Michalak
was a perfect fit to establish and admin-
ister the state’s first-ever local health
agency accreditation program.
“Craig was a dear friend and a val-
ued colleague,” says Dr. Edward Baker,
NCIPH director. “So many of us ben-
efited from his selfless service to public
health in North Carolina and across the
nation. Craig creatively built and man-
aged the North Carolina Local Health
Agency Accreditation Program, the first
such program in the United States. The
program he helped build will serve as a
lasting legacy to his dedicated service, and
it will stand as a model for others across
the nation to emulate.”
Donations may be made in Micha-
lak’s memory to a fund established in his
honor by UNC Libraries. Please make
checks out to “University Library,” and
write “Craig Michalak Memorial Library
Fund” in the memo field. Mail gifts to
the Library Development Office, CB #
3900, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
N.C. 27514-8890. For more information,
contact Sarah Poteete at (919) 843-5660
or [email protected]. n
Michalak coMMeMor aTed for selfless service To public healTh
8 research director of the Health Research
Foundation in Asheville, N.C.
In 1960, Tyroler joined the UNC Depart-
ment of Epidemiology faculty. He became
a full professor in 1967 and was named
Alumni Distinguished Professor in 1979.
His career at UNC spanned more than 40
years, during which he achieved national
prominence for his work in the United States
and internationally, including long-time
consultancy to the World Health Organiza-
tion and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. His influential studies in
the areas of cardiovascular disease, genetic
epidemiology, minority health, women’s
health and international health reflect the
range of his intellectual curiosity.
Tyroler earned election to the Institute
of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
His numerous honors include the American
Heart Association’s Distinguished Achieve-
ment Award and Ancel Keys Lecture; the
American Public Health Association’s John
Snow Award; the UNC School of Public
Health’s Edward G. McGavran Award for
Excellence in Teaching and the Bernard G.
Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award.
As a particularly fitting way to honor Al
Tyroler’s life-long dedication to teaching and
mentoring, a scholarship was established in
his honor at UNC. Donations may be made
in Tyroler’s memory with checks to “UNC-
CH School of Public Health Foundation,
Inc.” referencing “H. A. Tyroler Scholarship”
in the memo field. Mail gifts to UNC School
of Public Health, P.O. Box 309, Chapel Hill,
N.C. 27514-0309. You may give online at
www.sph.unc.edu/giving. For more infor-
mation, contact Stephen Couch at (919)
966-0219 or [email protected]. n
Craig michalak
Dr. al Tyroler, in a photo taken circa 1977
PH
OTO
By
Je
aN
Ne
Wa
rN
er
Dr. Daniel Okun, in a photo taken circa 1960s
features & news
54 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 55
maternal and child health, has received
the Delta Omega Award for Innovative
Public Health Curriculum for her course,
“Program Assessment in Maternal and
Child Health.” Delta Omega is the honor-
ary society for graduate studies in public
health.
Farel made a pre-
sentation about the
course at the Delta
Omega annual busi-
ness meeting and
exhibited a poster
on it at the Ameri-
can Public Health
Association annual
conference. Both events were held in Wash-
ington, D.C., in November 2007.
Dr. Thomas R. (Bob) Konrad, research
professor of health policy and administra-
tion at the School of Public Health and of
social medicine at the School of Medicine,
was recognized in connection with WIN A
STEP UP, a program designed to promote
career development and reduce turnover
among nursing assistants in North Caro-
lina’s nursing homes.
The program, a partnership between the
N.C. Department of Health and Human
Services and the University of North Caro-
lina’s Institute on Aging (NCIOA), was
selected as one of two finalists for the 2007
Rosalynn Carter Caregiving Award. The
award recognizes leadership in implement-
ing innovative and creative partnerships
between community organizations and
caregiving researchers.
Konrad is a senior research fellow at
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services
Research.
Dr. Jonathan Kotch, professor of mater-
nal and child health, received a 2007-2008
competitive Kenan research leave to
conduct research in Edinburgh, Scotland,
where he will help implement a compre-
hensive injury prevention plan for Scottish
children and youth in spring 2008.
Kotch will collabo-
rate with Children in
Scotland, a national
agency of more than
400 volunteer and
nonprofit organiza-
tions working to pro-
mote the well-being
of children and their
families.
Kotch also received the Dr. Susan S.
Aronson Early Education and Child Care
Advocacy Award at the 2007 American
Academy of Pediatrics National Confer-
ence and Exhibition. He was recognized for
his contributions to the field of child care
health consultation.
Dr. David Leith, professor of environmen-
tal sciences and engineering, was awarded
the School’s Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni
Endowment Award at the School of Public
Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memo-
rial Lecture in April 2008. The Greenberg
Award was established by the Alumni Asso-
ciation to honor Dr. Bernard G. Greenberg,
founder and chair of the Department of
Biostatistics from 1949 to 1972 and dean of
the School from 1972 to 1982. The award,
which carries a cash prize of $12,000 a
year for three years, is given annually to an
outstanding full-time faculty member for
excellence in the areas of teaching, research
and service.
Sheila Leatherman, honorary Commander
of the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire (CBE), has been named the first
Gillings Visiting Professor at the UNC
School of Public Health. The professorship
is part of Carolina Public Health Solutions,
a new initiative funded by Dennis and
Joan Gillings and dedicated to accelerating
public health impact across North Carolina
and around the world.
As research professor of health policy and
administration at the School, Leatherman
evaluates and analyzes health care systems
around the globe and, in conducting her
research, often serves as visiting professor
or visiting scholar at other universities and
institutions. The Gillings Visiting Profes-
sorship will provide the means for her to
focus a portion of UNC’s public health
research on microcredit and its impact on
global health.
Dr. Sandra Martin,
professor and associ-
ate chair for research
in the Department of
Maternal and Child
Health, was named
associate dean for
research at the UNC
School of Public
Health. An epide-
miologist by training, Martin joined the
School of Public Health faculty 8
a W a r d s a n d r e c o g n i t i o n s
Dr. Jonathan Kotch
Dr. Sandra martin
Dr. anita FarelFACULT Y
Dr. Shrikant Bangdiwala, research profes-
sor of biostatistics; Dr. Gerardo Heiss,
Kenan Distinguished Professor of epide-
miology; and Dr. Jay Kaufman, associate
professor of epidemiology, were awarded
the title of visiting
professor by Dr.
Giorgio Solimano,
dean of the School of
Public Health at the
University of Chile at
Santiago earlier this
year. The titles rec-
ognize Bangdiwala,
Heiss and Kaufman
for their “relevant
academic and scientific merits and perma-
nent collaboration with the (University of
Chile) faculty.”
January 2008 marks the tenth year of
Bangdiwala’s collaboration with the School
of Public Health at the University of Chile,
as coordinator of the International Sum-
mer School Program. Other UNC faculty
members who have been involved in the
effort in addition to Bangdiwala, Heiss
and Kaufman include Drs. Ed Davis, Gary
Koch and Lisa LaVange (biostatistics).
Bangdiwala also was designated a 2008
visiting professor in the Department of
Public Health Sciences by the Karolinska
Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Marci Campbell, professor of nutri-
tion, will direct and serve as principal
investigator for the
UNC Lineberger
Comprehensive
Cancer Center’s
LIVESTRONG Sur-
vivorship Center of
Excellence Network
program, which ad-
dresses the needs of
the growing number
of cancer survivors in the United States.
The network is an invitation-only col-
laborative partnership among the Lance
Armstrong Foundation, National Cancer
Institute-designated comprehensive care
centers at leading institutions nationwide,
and their community affiliates. Its mis-
sion is to harness the expertise of these
centers and affiliates to accelerate progress
in meeting the needs of cancer survivors.
Lineberger is the eighth network member
institution in the nation.
Dr. Rosalind Cole-
man, professor of
nutrition in the
School of Public
Health and professor
of pediatrics in the
School of Medicine,
was named one of
the first fellows in
the Working on Women in Science pro-
gram, a campus-wide initiative to foster
the advancement of women in science and
medicine.
Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith, associate pro-
fessor of epidemiology in the Schools of
Public Health and Medicine, and of social
medicine and medicine in the School of
Medicine, has been selected as one of the
University’s first Faculty Engaged Scholars.
The two-year program helps scholars con-
nect their academic work with the needs of
communities and apply their skills to make
a difference.
The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council
honored Dr. Jo Anne Earp, professor of
health behavior and health education,
with a 2008 Faculty Mentoring Award at
the Council’s annual meeting in Chapel
Hill, N.C., in February 2008. The accolade
includes a $5,000 stipend.
The award recognizes outstanding faculty
who “go the extra mile” to guide, mentor
and lead students and/or junior faculty.
The 130-member Carolina Women’s
Leadership Council is a nationwide net-
work of women committed to supporting
the University and students’ educational
experiences.
Dr. Anita Farel, clinical professor and
associate chair for graduate studies in
Dr. Shrikant Bangdiwala
Dr. marci Campbell
Dr. rosalind Coleman
september 2007 – april 2008
AWA R D S &R E C O G N I T ION S
u n c s c h o o l o f p u b l i c h e a l T h
For more information on these and many other faculty, student, alumni and staff awards, honors and recognitions, visit www.sph.unc.edu/school/recognitions.
features & news
Dr. Herbert B. Peterson, professor and chair in the Department of maternal and Child Health at the School of Public Health and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of medicine, was elected to membership in the institute of medicine (iOm).
established in 1970 by the National academy of Sciences, the institute serves as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on human health issues.
Peterson is known nationally and internationally for his work in women’s reproductive health, epidemiology, health policy, and evidence-based decision-making. Prior to joining the School of Public Health faculty in 2004, he held various research and administrative positions over the course of 20 years with the World Health Organization, U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
features & news
54 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
a r t i c l e n a m e
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 55
maternal and child health, has received
the Delta Omega Award for Innovative
Public Health Curriculum for her course,
“Program Assessment in Maternal and
Child Health.” Delta Omega is the honor-
ary society for graduate studies in public
health.
Farel made a pre-
sentation about the
course at the Delta
Omega annual busi-
ness meeting and
exhibited a poster
on it at the Ameri-
can Public Health
Association annual
conference. Both events were held in Wash-
ington, D.C., in November 2007.
Dr. Thomas R. (Bob) Konrad, research
professor of health policy and administra-
tion at the School of Public Health and of
social medicine at the School of Medicine,
was recognized in connection with WIN A
STEP UP, a program designed to promote
career development and reduce turnover
among nursing assistants in North Caro-
lina’s nursing homes.
The program, a partnership between the
N.C. Department of Health and Human
Services and the University of North Caro-
lina’s Institute on Aging (NCIOA), was
selected as one of two finalists for the 2007
Rosalynn Carter Caregiving Award. The
award recognizes leadership in implement-
ing innovative and creative partnerships
between community organizations and
caregiving researchers.
Konrad is a senior research fellow at
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services
Research.
Dr. Jonathan Kotch, professor of mater-
nal and child health, received a 2007-2008
competitive Kenan research leave to
conduct research in Edinburgh, Scotland,
where he will help implement a compre-
hensive injury prevention plan for Scottish
children and youth in spring 2008.
Kotch will collabo-
rate with Children in
Scotland, a national
agency of more than
400 volunteer and
nonprofit organiza-
tions working to pro-
mote the well-being
of children and their
families.
Kotch also received the Dr. Susan S.
Aronson Early Education and Child Care
Advocacy Award at the 2007 American
Academy of Pediatrics National Confer-
ence and Exhibition. He was recognized for
his contributions to the field of child care
health consultation.
Dr. David Leith, professor of environmen-
tal sciences and engineering, was awarded
the School’s Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni
Endowment Award at the School of Public
Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memo-
rial Lecture in April 2008. The Greenberg
Award was established by the Alumni Asso-
ciation to honor Dr. Bernard G. Greenberg,
founder and chair of the Department of
Biostatistics from 1949 to 1972 and dean of
the School from 1972 to 1982. The award,
which carries a cash prize of $12,000 a
year for three years, is given annually to an
outstanding full-time faculty member for
excellence in the areas of teaching, research
and service.
Sheila Leatherman, honorary Commander
of the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire (CBE), has been named the first
Gillings Visiting Professor at the UNC
School of Public Health. The professorship
is part of Carolina Public Health Solutions,
a new initiative funded by Dennis and
Joan Gillings and dedicated to accelerating
public health impact across North Carolina
and around the world.
As research professor of health policy and
administration at the School, Leatherman
evaluates and analyzes health care systems
around the globe and, in conducting her
research, often serves as visiting professor
or visiting scholar at other universities and
institutions. The Gillings Visiting Profes-
sorship will provide the means for her to
focus a portion of UNC’s public health
research on microcredit and its impact on
global health.
Dr. Sandra Martin,
professor and associ-
ate chair for research
in the Department of
Maternal and Child
Health, was named
associate dean for
research at the UNC
School of Public
Health. An epide-
miologist by training, Martin joined the
School of Public Health faculty 8
a W a r d s a n d r e c o g n i t i o n s
Dr. Jonathan Kotch
Dr. Sandra martin
Dr. anita FarelFACULT Y
Dr. Shrikant Bangdiwala, research profes-
sor of biostatistics; Dr. Gerardo Heiss,
Kenan Distinguished Professor of epide-
miology; and Dr. Jay Kaufman, associate
professor of epidemiology, were awarded
the title of visiting
professor by Dr.
Giorgio Solimano,
dean of the School of
Public Health at the
University of Chile at
Santiago earlier this
year. The titles rec-
ognize Bangdiwala,
Heiss and Kaufman
for their “relevant
academic and scientific merits and perma-
nent collaboration with the (University of
Chile) faculty.”
January 2008 marks the tenth year of
Bangdiwala’s collaboration with the School
of Public Health at the University of Chile,
as coordinator of the International Sum-
mer School Program. Other UNC faculty
members who have been involved in the
effort in addition to Bangdiwala, Heiss
and Kaufman include Drs. Ed Davis, Gary
Koch and Lisa LaVange (biostatistics).
Bangdiwala also was designated a 2008
visiting professor in the Department of
Public Health Sciences by the Karolinska
Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Marci Campbell, professor of nutri-
tion, will direct and serve as principal
investigator for the
UNC Lineberger
Comprehensive
Cancer Center’s
LIVESTRONG Sur-
vivorship Center of
Excellence Network
program, which ad-
dresses the needs of
the growing number
of cancer survivors in the United States.
The network is an invitation-only col-
laborative partnership among the Lance
Armstrong Foundation, National Cancer
Institute-designated comprehensive care
centers at leading institutions nationwide,
and their community affiliates. Its mis-
sion is to harness the expertise of these
centers and affiliates to accelerate progress
in meeting the needs of cancer survivors.
Lineberger is the eighth network member
institution in the nation.
Dr. Rosalind Cole-
man, professor of
nutrition in the
School of Public
Health and professor
of pediatrics in the
School of Medicine,
was named one of
the first fellows in
the Working on Women in Science pro-
gram, a campus-wide initiative to foster
the advancement of women in science and
medicine.
Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith, associate pro-
fessor of epidemiology in the Schools of
Public Health and Medicine, and of social
medicine and medicine in the School of
Medicine, has been selected as one of the
University’s first Faculty Engaged Scholars.
The two-year program helps scholars con-
nect their academic work with the needs of
communities and apply their skills to make
a difference.
The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council
honored Dr. Jo Anne Earp, professor of
health behavior and health education,
with a 2008 Faculty Mentoring Award at
the Council’s annual meeting in Chapel
Hill, N.C., in February 2008. The accolade
includes a $5,000 stipend.
The award recognizes outstanding faculty
who “go the extra mile” to guide, mentor
and lead students and/or junior faculty.
The 130-member Carolina Women’s
Leadership Council is a nationwide net-
work of women committed to supporting
the University and students’ educational
experiences.
Dr. Anita Farel, clinical professor and
associate chair for graduate studies in
Dr. Shrikant Bangdiwala
Dr. marci Campbell
Dr. rosalind Coleman
september 2007 – april 2008
AWA R D S &R E C O G N I T ION S
u n c s c h o o l o f p u b l i c h e a l T h
For more information on these and many other faculty, student, alumni and staff awards, honors and recognitions, visit www.sph.unc.edu/school/recognitions.
features & news
Dr. Herbert B. Peterson, professor and chair in the Department of maternal and Child Health at the School of Public Health and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of medicine, was elected to membership in the institute of medicine (iOm).
established in 1970 by the National academy of Sciences, the institute serves as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on human health issues.
Peterson is known nationally and internationally for his work in women’s reproductive health, epidemiology, health policy, and evidence-based decision-making. Prior to joining the School of Public Health faculty in 2004, he held various research and administrative positions over the course of 20 years with the World Health Organization, U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
features & news
56 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 57
In Czech, it’s Dĕkuji. In
Mandarin, it’s Xie Xie. In
Turkish, it’s Tesekkür ederim.
In English, it’s Thank You.
On Nov. 29, 2007, the
atrium in the Michael Hooker
Research Center was trans-
formed into a magical setting.
Each linen-covered table held a
“thank you” sign in a different
language, reminding guests
that their gifts and support for
the School reach all around
the globe.
In all, 130 people attended
the School’s second annual “A
World of Difference” dinner
honoring the School’s fore-
most benefactors.
Over a dinner of arugula
salad and halibut in Pernod,
conversations buzzed between
scholarship donors and recipi-
ents, faculty members, school
advisors and other benefac-
tors. Fred Brown (MPH ’82)
president of the Public Health
Foundation Board of Directors,
welcomed guests and thanked
them for their gifts of time
and money. Donald Holzworth
described why he and his wife,
Jennifer, chose to establish
scholarships in honor of their
fathers. Former professor Den-
nis Gillings talked about why
he and his wife, Joan, decided
to make the largest gift in the
history of the UNC system to
the School of Public Health.
They were joined by Stacy-
Ann Christian (MPH ’06), who
earned her masters in public
health in 2006 on a scholarship
and already has set up a schol-
arship of her own to honor her
late brother. (See inside back
cover.)
“The dinner is our oppor-
tunity to say ‘thank you’ in a
special way to our most gener-
ous friends,” says Peggy Dean
Glenn, associate dean for exter-
nal affairs. “We hope more and
more people will join us for this
fun evening. The dinner hon-
ors all endowment donors and
members of the Cornerstone
and Rosenau Societies.”
The Rosenau Society, named
in honor of Milton J. Rosenau,
the School’s first dean, com-
prises donors who annually
give $1,000 or more, provid-
ing current funds to be used
where they are needed most.
President’s Circle members
($5,000-$25,000), Chancellor’s
Circle ($2,000-$4,999) and
Dean’s Circle ($1,000-$1,999)
are honored members of the
society. The Cornerstone So-
ciety recognizes donors who
have named rooms or other
spaces within the School’s
building complex.
To join the Rosenau Society,
or make a donation of any
amount to the School of Public
Health, please see www.sph.
unc.edu/giving, or contact the
School’s Office of External Af-
fairs at (919) 966-0198.
“All of our friends make a
world of difference in our abil-
ity to anticipate public health
needs and accelerate public
health solutions,” Glenn says. n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
features & news
8 in 2004. As director of the School’s Of-
fice of Research, she works to enhance the
research enterprise at the School by engag-
ing faculty, staff, students and others across
the School, campus and beyond.
Dr. Ivan Rusyn, associate professor of
environmental sciences and engineer-
ing, received the Society of Toxicology’s
Achievement Award at the Society’s 47th
annual meeting on March 16, 2008, in
Seattle. Rusyn received his doctorate at
UNC in 2000 and worked as a postdoctoral
fellow before joining the faculty in 2002.
Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz, associate
professor in the departments of
epidemiology and nutrition, was the
recipient of the March of Dimes’ 2007
Agnes Higgins Award.
The annual award recognizes distinguished
achievement in research, education or
clinical services in the field of maternal-fetal
nutrition. Awardees receive a $3,000 prize
and the invitation to lecture at the American
Public Health Association’s annual meeting,
which, last year, was held in November in
Washington, D.C. Siega-Riz’s lecture topic
at the meeting was “Maternal Obesity: The
Number One Problem Facing Prenatal Care
Providers in the New Millennium.
Dr. Steve Zeisel
received the Osborne
and Mendel Award
from the American
Society for Nutri-
tion, in recognition
of outstanding recent
basic research ac-
complishments in
nutrition. The award
was presented at the Federation of American
Societies of Experimental Biology interna-
tional meeting in San Diego in April 2008.
Zeisel also was recognized at the confer-
ence by the American College of Nutrition
(ACN). He received the ACN Lifetime
Achievement Award for research accom-
plishments in nutrition.
A LUMNI
Dr. F. Dubois Bowman, (Biostatistics ’00),
associate professor of biostatistics and direc-
tor of the Center for Biomedical Imaging
Statistics at Emory University, received the
Grizzle Outstanding Alumnus Award in
April 2008. The award was presented at the
departmental meeting of the UNC School
of Public Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr.
Memorial Lecture in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Over the past eight years, Bowman has
built a distinguished record of scholarship
and service, serving on National Institutes
of Health (NIH) study sections, obtaining
a statistical methodology R01 grant from
NIH, and holding an elected office in the
Eastern North American Region of the
International Biometric Society (ENAR).
The late Diane Hedgecock is the recipient
of the 2008 Sidney S. Chipman Alumni
Award. The annual Alumni Award honors
Dr. Chipman, founder of the UNC Depart-
ment of Maternal and Child Health, and
is given to a graduate of the department
who has made outstanding contributions
to the field of maternal and child health.
Joan Hedgecock, Diane’s sister, accepted
the award on her behalf at the School’s
annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memorial Lecture
in April.
Hedgecock, a 1975 master’s degree graduate
from the School’s Department of Maternal
and Child Health, dedicated her career
to improving maternal health, including
reproductive health and child survival. In
her role as senior technical advisor at John
Snow, Inc. (JSI), from 1985 until her death
on March 8, 2008, Hedgecock shepherded
such successful JSI projects as the Romania
Family Health Initiative, the BASICS child
survival program, the Cambodia Com-
munity Outreach project and the African
portfolio of countries under the SEATS
Family Planning Service Expansion and
Technical Support project. In the late ’70s,
she served as director of health program-
ming and training for the U.S. Peace Corps
headquarters, where she was responsible for
overall health policy and program develop-
ment in 67 Peace Corps countries.
Charles W. McGrew, an alumnus of the
School’s Department of Health Policy and
Administration, was awarded the School’s
2008 Harriet Hylton Barr Distinguished
Alumni Award at the School of Public
Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memo-
rial Lecture in April. McGrew is deputy
director and chief operating officer of the
Arkansas Department of Health. His career
spans more than 35 years of public health
service to the people of Arkansas. Estab-
lished in 1975, the Barr Award recognizes
the achievements of alumni and their con-
tributions to public health. The award car-
ries the name of its 1980 recipient — Harriet
Hylton Barr — who earned her master’s in
public health from UNC in 1948 and is
clinical associate professor emeritus in the
School’s Department of Health Behavior
and Health Education.
ST UDEN TS
Eleven students from the UNC School of
Public Health were recognized with 2008
Impact Awards from the UNC Graduate
School. The awards honor graduate students
whose research provides special benefits to
the citizens of North Carolina. Awardees
also serve as graduate student ambassadors,
talking to community groups throughout
the state about their work. Winners from
the School of Public Health are Janne
Boone and Alexia Smith, doctoral students
in nutrition; Anthony Fleg, medical
student and 2007 master’s degree graduate
from the Public Health Leadership Program
and Patrick Carlsen Smith, medical
student and 2008 master’s degree graduate
from the same department; Erin Fraher
and John Staley, doctoral students in
health policy and administration; Morgan
Jones, 2007 master’s degree graduate from
the Department of Health Policy and
Administration; and Amy Kalkbrenner,
Sandra McCoy, Lynne Sampson and
Elizabeth Torrone, doctoral students in
epidemiology.
Dr. Steve Zeisel
Celebrating friends who make a World of DiΩerence
Top photo: (Left and right) Phyllis and robert Verhalen (mPH '65, DrPH '72)enjoy the evening with yvonne Golightly (center), doctoral student in epidemiology and recipient of the robert Verhalen Scholarship in injury Prevention.
Bottom photo: alison Wise (left), doctoral student in biostatistics and recipient of the John and Diane Fryer Fellowship, meets her benefactor, Diane e. medcalf (right).
PH
OTO
By
ma
riB
eL m
aN
iBO
P H OTO S By m a r i B eL m a N i B O
a W a r d s a n d r e c o g n i t i o n s
features & news
56 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 57
In Czech, it’s Dĕkuji. In
Mandarin, it’s Xie Xie. In
Turkish, it’s Tesekkür ederim.
In English, it’s Thank You.
On Nov. 29, 2007, the
atrium in the Michael Hooker
Research Center was trans-
formed into a magical setting.
Each linen-covered table held a
“thank you” sign in a different
language, reminding guests
that their gifts and support for
the School reach all around
the globe.
In all, 130 people attended
the School’s second annual “A
World of Difference” dinner
honoring the School’s fore-
most benefactors.
Over a dinner of arugula
salad and halibut in Pernod,
conversations buzzed between
scholarship donors and recipi-
ents, faculty members, school
advisors and other benefac-
tors. Fred Brown (MPH ’82)
president of the Public Health
Foundation Board of Directors,
welcomed guests and thanked
them for their gifts of time
and money. Donald Holzworth
described why he and his wife,
Jennifer, chose to establish
scholarships in honor of their
fathers. Former professor Den-
nis Gillings talked about why
he and his wife, Joan, decided
to make the largest gift in the
history of the UNC system to
the School of Public Health.
They were joined by Stacy-
Ann Christian (MPH ’06), who
earned her masters in public
health in 2006 on a scholarship
and already has set up a schol-
arship of her own to honor her
late brother. (See inside back
cover.)
“The dinner is our oppor-
tunity to say ‘thank you’ in a
special way to our most gener-
ous friends,” says Peggy Dean
Glenn, associate dean for exter-
nal affairs. “We hope more and
more people will join us for this
fun evening. The dinner hon-
ors all endowment donors and
members of the Cornerstone
and Rosenau Societies.”
The Rosenau Society, named
in honor of Milton J. Rosenau,
the School’s first dean, com-
prises donors who annually
give $1,000 or more, provid-
ing current funds to be used
where they are needed most.
President’s Circle members
($5,000-$25,000), Chancellor’s
Circle ($2,000-$4,999) and
Dean’s Circle ($1,000-$1,999)
are honored members of the
society. The Cornerstone So-
ciety recognizes donors who
have named rooms or other
spaces within the School’s
building complex.
To join the Rosenau Society,
or make a donation of any
amount to the School of Public
Health, please see www.sph.
unc.edu/giving, or contact the
School’s Office of External Af-
fairs at (919) 966-0198.
“All of our friends make a
world of difference in our abil-
ity to anticipate public health
needs and accelerate public
health solutions,” Glenn says. n
– B y r a m O N a D U B O S e
features & news
8 in 2004. As director of the School’s Of-
fice of Research, she works to enhance the
research enterprise at the School by engag-
ing faculty, staff, students and others across
the School, campus and beyond.
Dr. Ivan Rusyn, associate professor of
environmental sciences and engineer-
ing, received the Society of Toxicology’s
Achievement Award at the Society’s 47th
annual meeting on March 16, 2008, in
Seattle. Rusyn received his doctorate at
UNC in 2000 and worked as a postdoctoral
fellow before joining the faculty in 2002.
Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz, associate
professor in the departments of
epidemiology and nutrition, was the
recipient of the March of Dimes’ 2007
Agnes Higgins Award.
The annual award recognizes distinguished
achievement in research, education or
clinical services in the field of maternal-fetal
nutrition. Awardees receive a $3,000 prize
and the invitation to lecture at the American
Public Health Association’s annual meeting,
which, last year, was held in November in
Washington, D.C. Siega-Riz’s lecture topic
at the meeting was “Maternal Obesity: The
Number One Problem Facing Prenatal Care
Providers in the New Millennium.
Dr. Steve Zeisel
received the Osborne
and Mendel Award
from the American
Society for Nutri-
tion, in recognition
of outstanding recent
basic research ac-
complishments in
nutrition. The award
was presented at the Federation of American
Societies of Experimental Biology interna-
tional meeting in San Diego in April 2008.
Zeisel also was recognized at the confer-
ence by the American College of Nutrition
(ACN). He received the ACN Lifetime
Achievement Award for research accom-
plishments in nutrition.
A LUMNI
Dr. F. Dubois Bowman, (Biostatistics ’00),
associate professor of biostatistics and direc-
tor of the Center for Biomedical Imaging
Statistics at Emory University, received the
Grizzle Outstanding Alumnus Award in
April 2008. The award was presented at the
departmental meeting of the UNC School
of Public Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr.
Memorial Lecture in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Over the past eight years, Bowman has
built a distinguished record of scholarship
and service, serving on National Institutes
of Health (NIH) study sections, obtaining
a statistical methodology R01 grant from
NIH, and holding an elected office in the
Eastern North American Region of the
International Biometric Society (ENAR).
The late Diane Hedgecock is the recipient
of the 2008 Sidney S. Chipman Alumni
Award. The annual Alumni Award honors
Dr. Chipman, founder of the UNC Depart-
ment of Maternal and Child Health, and
is given to a graduate of the department
who has made outstanding contributions
to the field of maternal and child health.
Joan Hedgecock, Diane’s sister, accepted
the award on her behalf at the School’s
annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memorial Lecture
in April.
Hedgecock, a 1975 master’s degree graduate
from the School’s Department of Maternal
and Child Health, dedicated her career
to improving maternal health, including
reproductive health and child survival. In
her role as senior technical advisor at John
Snow, Inc. (JSI), from 1985 until her death
on March 8, 2008, Hedgecock shepherded
such successful JSI projects as the Romania
Family Health Initiative, the BASICS child
survival program, the Cambodia Com-
munity Outreach project and the African
portfolio of countries under the SEATS
Family Planning Service Expansion and
Technical Support project. In the late ’70s,
she served as director of health program-
ming and training for the U.S. Peace Corps
headquarters, where she was responsible for
overall health policy and program develop-
ment in 67 Peace Corps countries.
Charles W. McGrew, an alumnus of the
School’s Department of Health Policy and
Administration, was awarded the School’s
2008 Harriet Hylton Barr Distinguished
Alumni Award at the School of Public
Health’s annual Fred T. Foard Jr. Memo-
rial Lecture in April. McGrew is deputy
director and chief operating officer of the
Arkansas Department of Health. His career
spans more than 35 years of public health
service to the people of Arkansas. Estab-
lished in 1975, the Barr Award recognizes
the achievements of alumni and their con-
tributions to public health. The award car-
ries the name of its 1980 recipient — Harriet
Hylton Barr — who earned her master’s in
public health from UNC in 1948 and is
clinical associate professor emeritus in the
School’s Department of Health Behavior
and Health Education.
ST UDEN TS
Eleven students from the UNC School of
Public Health were recognized with 2008
Impact Awards from the UNC Graduate
School. The awards honor graduate students
whose research provides special benefits to
the citizens of North Carolina. Awardees
also serve as graduate student ambassadors,
talking to community groups throughout
the state about their work. Winners from
the School of Public Health are Janne
Boone and Alexia Smith, doctoral students
in nutrition; Anthony Fleg, medical
student and 2007 master’s degree graduate
from the Public Health Leadership Program
and Patrick Carlsen Smith, medical
student and 2008 master’s degree graduate
from the same department; Erin Fraher
and John Staley, doctoral students in
health policy and administration; Morgan
Jones, 2007 master’s degree graduate from
the Department of Health Policy and
Administration; and Amy Kalkbrenner,
Sandra McCoy, Lynne Sampson and
Elizabeth Torrone, doctoral students in
epidemiology.
Dr. Steve Zeisel
Celebrating friends who make a World of DiΩerence
Top photo: (Left and right) Phyllis and robert Verhalen (mPH '65, DrPH '72)enjoy the evening with yvonne Golightly (center), doctoral student in epidemiology and recipient of the robert Verhalen Scholarship in injury Prevention.
Bottom photo: alison Wise (left), doctoral student in biostatistics and recipient of the John and Diane Fryer Fellowship, meets her benefactor, Diane e. medcalf (right).
PH
OTO
By
ma
riB
eL m
aN
iBO
P H OTO S By m a r i B eL m a N i B O
a W a r d s a n d r e c o g n i t i o n s
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
58 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 59
Creating opportunities for
talented bio-statisticians
from developing countries to
learn, grow and contribute
to Carolina’s educational ex-
perience is important to Dr.
Pranab K. Sen, himself a native
of India who first came to UNC
in 1965 as a visiting assistant
professor of biostatistics. Since
1982, Sen has served as Cary
C. Boshamer Distinguished
Professor of biostatistics at the
UNC School of Public Health
and professor of statistics and
operations research at UNC’s
College of Arts and Sciences.
Sen’s experience at Carolina
inspired him, his family, and
colleagues, friends and for-
mer students to establish the
Pranab K. Sen Distinguished
Visiting Professorship. The
new professorship will allow
biostatisticians from develop-
ing countries to work at UNC
for a semester or a year.
The Sen Family contrib-
uted $304,500 toward the
new professorship and col-
leagues, friends and former
students contributed $29,750.
UNC has applied for state
matching contributions of
$167,000 to make an endow-
ment total of $501,250 for this
professorship.
Sen hopes scholars attend-
ing Carolina with the help of
this new distinguished visiting
professorship will learn and
contribute new methodologies
in statistics while at UNC. The
professorship will be awarded
to bio-statisticians whose
knowledge lends itself to
the study of statistical
interaction in interdisci-
plinary fields including
pharmacogenomics, bio-
informatics and clinical
sciences. It is preferred
that professorship recipi-
ents return to their na-
tive countries for at least
one academic year after
their time at Carolina
so that they may more
fully share their experi-
ences with those in their
country.
For more information
about the professorship, please
contact Lyne Gamble, director
of major and planned gifts at
the School of Public Health’s
Office of External Affairs at
(919) 966-8368 or lyne_gam-
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
UNC professor establishes New professorship for visitiNg faCUlty
from developiNg CoUNtries
Dr. Pranab K. Sen
School ExceedsCarolina First Goal
T he University’s Carolina First cam-paign ended on Dec. 31, 2007, with
more than $2.38 billion raised. it was the fifth largest fundraising drive among completed campaigns in the country and the largest ever in the Southeast.
Led by Campaign Chair robert J. Grec-zyn, Jr., mPH ’81, president and CeO of BlueCross and BlueShield of North Caro-lina, the School of Public Health surged past its $100 million goal to end its portion of the campaign at $164,219,849. more than 6,000 donors contributed to the School’s success, including alumni, par-
ents, friends, faculty, staff, foundations, corporations and organizations. “Dennis and Joan Gillings’ $50 million gift was, of course, extraordinary,” says Peggy Glenn, associate dean for external affairs, “but we could not have achieved these results without the thousands of friends who sup-ported scholarships, professorships, facili-ties, special endowments, new programs and the annual Fund. We hope everyone who participated shares our joy in what was achieved. your gifts are making a world of difference in North Carolina and around the globe.”
Bequests are a vital source of support for the School of Pub-lic Health. Bequests:
• create scholarships• establish professorships• build new facilities• support research• improve the public’s health
The UNC School of Public Health’s future depends on you — our friends and alumni who remember the School in their estate plans. Your bequest will help to ensure the School of Public Health’s continued excellence. In an era of shrinking federal support, bequests are more important than ever.
Contact us today about including the UNC School of Public Health in your estate plans. Let us know if you need more information by checking the appropriate box in the enclosed envelope or call, write, or email:
Lyne S. Gamble, Jr.Director of Major and Planned GiftsUNC School of Public HealthCampus Box 7407Chapel Hill, NC [email protected] 919.966.8368
Your Gift Today... a healthier tomorrow
An anonymous $100,000
gift to the UNC School
of Public Health will allow
the School to create an online
Certificate in Global Health
to reach a broad range of
students, including working
health professionals and vol-
unteers at nongovernmental
organizations.
The School’s Office of
Global Health presently offers
a Certificate in Global Health
to the School’s residential
graduate students. It comple-
ments graduate students’ de-
partmental requirements by
offering courses, seminars and
fieldwork or internships to pro-
vide them with a comprehen-
sive understanding of global
health conditions, needs and
solutions that cross borders in
developing and industrialized
countries and regions.
The $100,000 gift will help
the School’s Office of Global
Health, in partnership with
the Public Health Leadership
Program, establish technol-
ogy and teaching resources to
offer a similar certificate in
a distance education format.
The curriculum for the online
certificate will be tailored to
working health professionals.
It will consist of five courses —
including infectious disease
epidemiology and global health
ethics — taken in sequence.
Developing an online Cer-
tificate in Global Health would
be impossible without philan-
thropic gestures from gener-
ous givers, says Dr. Margaret
Bentley, the School’s associate
dean of global health.
“It’s quite a show of sup-
port,” Bentley says of the re-
cent gift. “The gift was seed
money for us to get started. We
are fundraising for the remain-
der of the project. Additional
funding will help us diversify
the course curriculum.”
A market survey conducted
by the School among 30,000
individuals affiliated with
UNC — many of whom work at
international organizations in
the Research Triangle area —
demonstrated the need for the
online certificate program, says
Bentley, who is involved in the
design and implementation of
the program. “If we had the
certificate tomorrow, about 200
people said they would sign up
for it right away,” she says.
For more information about
the online Certificate in Global
Health, visit www.sph.unc.
edu/globalhealth/certificate.
To learn about how you can
help make the online certifi-
cate a reality, contact Stephen
Couch at (919) 966-0219 or
$100,000 gift helps School create Certificate
in Global Health in distance education format
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
58 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
c a r o l i n a p u b l i c h e a l t h | 59
Creating opportunities for
talented bio-statisticians
from developing countries to
learn, grow and contribute
to Carolina’s educational ex-
perience is important to Dr.
Pranab K. Sen, himself a native
of India who first came to UNC
in 1965 as a visiting assistant
professor of biostatistics. Since
1982, Sen has served as Cary
C. Boshamer Distinguished
Professor of biostatistics at the
UNC School of Public Health
and professor of statistics and
operations research at UNC’s
College of Arts and Sciences.
Sen’s experience at Carolina
inspired him, his family, and
colleagues, friends and for-
mer students to establish the
Pranab K. Sen Distinguished
Visiting Professorship. The
new professorship will allow
biostatisticians from develop-
ing countries to work at UNC
for a semester or a year.
The Sen Family contrib-
uted $304,500 toward the
new professorship and col-
leagues, friends and former
students contributed $29,750.
UNC has applied for state
matching contributions of
$167,000 to make an endow-
ment total of $501,250 for this
professorship.
Sen hopes scholars attend-
ing Carolina with the help of
this new distinguished visiting
professorship will learn and
contribute new methodologies
in statistics while at UNC. The
professorship will be awarded
to bio-statisticians whose
knowledge lends itself to
the study of statistical
interaction in interdisci-
plinary fields including
pharmacogenomics, bio-
informatics and clinical
sciences. It is preferred
that professorship recipi-
ents return to their na-
tive countries for at least
one academic year after
their time at Carolina
so that they may more
fully share their experi-
ences with those in their
country.
For more information
about the professorship, please
contact Lyne Gamble, director
of major and planned gifts at
the School of Public Health’s
Office of External Affairs at
(919) 966-8368 or lyne_gam-
– B y P r a S H a N T N a i r , P H D
UNC professor establishes New professorship for visitiNg faCUlty
from developiNg CoUNtries
Dr. Pranab K. Sen
School ExceedsCarolina First Goal
T he University’s Carolina First cam-paign ended on Dec. 31, 2007, with
more than $2.38 billion raised. it was the fifth largest fundraising drive among completed campaigns in the country and the largest ever in the Southeast.
Led by Campaign Chair robert J. Grec-zyn, Jr., mPH ’81, president and CeO of BlueCross and BlueShield of North Caro-lina, the School of Public Health surged past its $100 million goal to end its portion of the campaign at $164,219,849. more than 6,000 donors contributed to the School’s success, including alumni, par-
ents, friends, faculty, staff, foundations, corporations and organizations. “Dennis and Joan Gillings’ $50 million gift was, of course, extraordinary,” says Peggy Glenn, associate dean for external affairs, “but we could not have achieved these results without the thousands of friends who sup-ported scholarships, professorships, facili-ties, special endowments, new programs and the annual Fund. We hope everyone who participated shares our joy in what was achieved. your gifts are making a world of difference in North Carolina and around the globe.”
Bequests are a vital source of support for the School of Pub-lic Health. Bequests:
• create scholarships• establish professorships• build new facilities• support research• improve the public’s health
The UNC School of Public Health’s future depends on you — our friends and alumni who remember the School in their estate plans. Your bequest will help to ensure the School of Public Health’s continued excellence. In an era of shrinking federal support, bequests are more important than ever.
Contact us today about including the UNC School of Public Health in your estate plans. Let us know if you need more information by checking the appropriate box in the enclosed envelope or call, write, or email:
Lyne S. Gamble, Jr.Director of Major and Planned GiftsUNC School of Public HealthCampus Box 7407Chapel Hill, NC [email protected] 919.966.8368
Your Gift Today... a healthier tomorrow
An anonymous $100,000
gift to the UNC School
of Public Health will allow
the School to create an online
Certificate in Global Health
to reach a broad range of
students, including working
health professionals and vol-
unteers at nongovernmental
organizations.
The School’s Office of
Global Health presently offers
a Certificate in Global Health
to the School’s residential
graduate students. It comple-
ments graduate students’ de-
partmental requirements by
offering courses, seminars and
fieldwork or internships to pro-
vide them with a comprehen-
sive understanding of global
health conditions, needs and
solutions that cross borders in
developing and industrialized
countries and regions.
The $100,000 gift will help
the School’s Office of Global
Health, in partnership with
the Public Health Leadership
Program, establish technol-
ogy and teaching resources to
offer a similar certificate in
a distance education format.
The curriculum for the online
certificate will be tailored to
working health professionals.
It will consist of five courses —
including infectious disease
epidemiology and global health
ethics — taken in sequence.
Developing an online Cer-
tificate in Global Health would
be impossible without philan-
thropic gestures from gener-
ous givers, says Dr. Margaret
Bentley, the School’s associate
dean of global health.
“It’s quite a show of sup-
port,” Bentley says of the re-
cent gift. “The gift was seed
money for us to get started. We
are fundraising for the remain-
der of the project. Additional
funding will help us diversify
the course curriculum.”
A market survey conducted
by the School among 30,000
individuals affiliated with
UNC — many of whom work at
international organizations in
the Research Triangle area —
demonstrated the need for the
online certificate program, says
Bentley, who is involved in the
design and implementation of
the program. “If we had the
certificate tomorrow, about 200
people said they would sign up
for it right away,” she says.
For more information about
the online Certificate in Global
Health, visit www.sph.unc.
edu/globalhealth/certificate.
To learn about how you can
help make the online certifi-
cate a reality, contact Stephen
Couch at (919) 966-0219 or
$100,000 gift helps School create Certificate
in Global Health in distance education format
o P P o r t u n i t i e s t o i n v e s t
60 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 8
Building on its initial
$3 million investment,
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has
committed another $250,000
to support the UNC-Glaxo-
SmithKline Center of Excel-
lence in Pharmacoepidemiol-
ogy and Public Health.
The Center, established in
2003, provides opportunities
for innovative research and
training in the field of pharma-
coepidemiology — the study of
the use and effects of drugs in
large numbers of people.
“The Center provides ex-
cellent opportunities for our
graduate students to prepare
for careers that allow them
to address the safety and ef-
fectiveness of medicines and
treatments,” says Dr. Andrew
Olshan, chair of the epide-
miology department, which
houses the Center. “They can
also test new methodological
tools. They have an opportu-
nity to learn how to apply the
things they learn in the lab and
classroom to real-world situa-
tions. In addition, the Center
provides a venue for faculty to
develop new research opportu-
nities. We are grateful to GSK,
not only for their donation,
but also for internship and
guidance opportunities they
provide for our students.”
Dr. Alice White, GSK vice
president of Worldwide Epi-
demiology and a School alum
(see page 29), has led GSK’s
support of the center. “Epi-
demiology is becoming an
increasingly important fac-
tor in health care. Whether
we’re trying to promote better
health, prevent illness or treat
diseases, we have to have a bet-
ter understanding of all fac-
tors influencing populations.
Epidemiology gives us the
tools we need. And the Center
helps us focus these tools to
understand the risks and ben-
efits of many treatments and
interventions, including new
medicines,” White says. n
GSK extends support for Pharmacoepidemiology Center
With relative ease, you can set up a charitable gift annuity. An annuity will provide:
• income for life• a charitable tax deduction• the satisfaction of supporting the School of Public Health
Let us show you what your return will be based on your age, your financial plans and current interest rates.
You may indicate your need for more information by checking the appropriate box in the enclosed envelope or call, write or email:
Lyne S. Gamble, Jr.Director of Major and Planned GiftsUNC School of Public HealthCampus Box 7407Chapel Hill, NC [email protected] 919.966.8368
A Charitable Gift Annuity: The Gift that Gives Back
Your age annuity rate
60 5.7% 70 6.5% 75 7.1%
Your ages annuity rate
65/63 5.6% 70/68 5.8% 75/73 6.2%
*rates are subject to change
sample annuity interest rates*
traiNeD aS aN attorNey, StaCy-aNN ChriStiaN KNew that people aND pUbliC health were her real paSSioNS. that’s why, with her brother’s encouragement and the offer of scholarships for graduate study, she made the decision to follow her heart to Carolina’s School of public health.
Unfortunately, Christian’s brother, Clive boxhill, died the same year she started her degree. twenty-year-old Clive, her confidante and cheerleader, lost his six-year battle with lupus in 2004, after six open-heart surgeries.
to honor him, Christian has pledged $25,000 to establish the Clive boxhill Jr. Scholarship in health policy at the School of public health.
“at a point when i needed a family, the School of public health took an interest in me. it’s important for me to help other students have this chance,” she says. “this is personal for me. Carolina was my home. i want other people who have the passion to have a chance.”
read more about Stacy-ann Christian at www.sph.unc.edu/giving/give_support.html.
Stacy-Ann Christian, JD, MPH
Giving an opportunity to students with passion
Create a scholarship —transform a life. Scholarships provide opportunities for talented students who might not otherwise be able to
pursue their educational dreams. To discuss the many options for establishing a named scholarship, call (919) 966-0198.
The enclosed gift envelope may be used to add to an existing scholarship, support the Annual Fund
or join the Rosenau Society, all of which are investments in our future public health leaders.
Clive boxhill Jr.
N o N p r o f i to r g a N i z a t i o N
U S p o S t a g e
p a i Dp e r m i t # 2 1 6
Chapel hill, NC
school of public health
caMpus boX 7400
chapel hill, Nc 27599-7400
this issue of Carolina public health is made possible, in part, by a generous gift from Keith Crisco and the asheboro elastics Corporation.
N o N p r o f i to r g a N i z a t i o N
U S p o S t a g e
p a i DChapel hill, NC
p e r m i t # 2 1 6
school of public health
caMpus boX 7400
chapel hill, Nc 27599-7400