October 07, 2011

A 1999 alumnus of UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health was named Haiti’s prime minister on Oct. 4.
Dr. Garry Conille, in his 1998 yearbook photo
Dr. Garry Conille, in his 1998 yearbook photo

Garry Conille, MD, MPH, senior U.N. development specialist and former aide to President Bill Clinton, was confirmed by Haiti’s senate, hopefully bringing to a close many months of political upheaval in the country.

 Conille, whose UNC Master of Public Health degree was in health policy and administration (now health policy and management), is a gynecologist who most recently served with the U.N. in Niger. He also has worked as an adjunct research scientist on community health care at Columbia University Earth Institute.

Conille said he hopes to use his development experience to help Haiti, a country where low rates of employment and literacy impede progress.

“I want to get everybody excited about what Haiti could be,” he told The Miami Herald in an interview. “We’ve spent 20 years concentrating on our difference. If I could get everybody excited about what Haiti could be, […] get the private sector excited, the population excited, get the civil society excited … I think we can pull this off.”

“Dr. Conille seems uniquely well-suited to serve as prime minister of post-earthquake Haiti,” said Deborah Bender, PhD, MPH, professor emeritus of health policy and management at UNC’s public health school, who taught Conille while he was a master’s student. “His training in medicine and public health policy and administration, his professional experience in poverty alleviation and policy development, and his indefatigable energy and commitment to improving conditions for populations in poverty combine to form an unusual skill set. Haiti is fortunate to have such a leader to constructively champion the way forward.”


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