May — November 2015 awards and recognitions

December 7, 2015

Selected awards and recognitions

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Dr. Linda Adair

Linda S. Adair, PhD, NUTR professor, was appointed for a two-year term as chair of the Social Sciences and Population Studies ‘A’ Study Section in the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review. Adair has served on the committee since 2013.

Dr. Peggy Bentley

Margaret (Peggy) Bentley, PhD, Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition and the School’s associate dean for global health, was named one of two new faculty directors at the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center.

Dr. Jianwen Cai

Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis

Effective July 1, Jianwen Cai, PhD, professor and vice chair of BIOS, and Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, professor and chair of NUTR, were designated as Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professors.

Dr. Greg Characklis

Greg Characklis, PhD, ESE professor, was installed in June as president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), an international organization of academicians who are educators in the sciences and technologies of environmental protection.

Dr. Stephen Cole

Stephen Cole, PhD, EPI professor, is the 2015 recipient of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Epidemiology.

Dr. Peggye Dilworth-Anderson

Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD, professor of HPM, was invited to serve a two-year term on the governance committee for the new Global Council on Brain Health (aarp.org/gcbh), convened by AARP and AgeUK, the United Kingdom’s largest charity dedicated to making the most of later life.

Dr. Anita Farel

Anita Farel, DrPH, alumna, clinical professor and associate chair of MCH, received the N. C. Pediatric Society’s Good for Kids Award. Two other alumnae, Julie Story Byerley, MD (MPH, 1997), and Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, MD (MPH, 1999), also were among the seven winners of the society’s 2015 awards for excellence in improving health of children and families.

Dr. Dean Fixsen

Dr. Herbert Peterson

Dean L. Fixsen, PhD, and Herbert B. Peterson, MD, were selected as president and treasurer, respectively, of the board of directors of the Global Implementation Initiative (globalimplementation.org). Fixsen is research professor of MCH, and Peterson is Kenan Distinguished Professor and former MCH chair.

Dr. Rebecca Fry

Rebecca Fry, PhD, associate professor of ESE, was named director of the UNC Superfund Research Program. The program, based in the UNC Gillings School and supported by a $14 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), brings together a diverse group of scientists, engineers, science communicators and trainees to study human health and environmental risks associated with exposure to toxic chemicals found at hazardous waste sites.

Dr. Carolyn Halpern

Carolyn Halpern, PhD, professor and chair of MCH, is now associate editor for public health and policy for the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Kristen Hassmiller Lich, PhD, research assistant professor of HPM, was selected in June as an inaugural participant in AcademyHealth’s Systems Science Scholars Program, designed to attract advanced systems methodologists.

Dr. Michael Hudgens

Dr. Jennifer Smith

Michael Hudgens, PhD, associate professor of BIOS, and Jennifer Smith, PhD, associate professor of EPI, were presented with two of the School’s most prestigious faculty awards during the School’s May 9 commencement. Hudgens received the McGavran Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Smith accepted the John E. Larsh Jr. Award for Mentorship.

Dr. Michael Kosorok

Dr. Danyu LIn

Michael R. Kosorok, PhD, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor and chair of BIOS, and Danyu Lin, PhD, Dennis Gillings Distinguished Professor of BIOS, were honored at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Seattle in August. Kosorok delivered the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Medallion Lecture, and Lin accepted the biannual George W. Sendecor Award, which recognizes contributions to statistical theory on biometry.

Kosorok also was reappointed for a third term as BIOS chair.

Dr. Daniel Lee

Shoou-Yih (Daniel) Lee, PhD, was appointed in July as the new chair of HPM. Lee, who most recently was a professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, served on the UNC Gillings School faculty from 2001 to 2010. A medical sociologist and expert in health services research, his expertise lies in organizational change, structure and performance. He is well-versed in large-scale data management and advanced statistical methods.

Dr. Richard Luettich

Richard Luettich, ScD, professor of ESE, has been named principal investigator at the Department of Homeland Security’s new Coastal Resilience Center (CRC) of Excellence, in Chapel Hill. The CRC conducts research and develops education programs to solve key challenges related to increasing the safety and resilience of N.C.’s coastal communities. Luettich also is Sewell Family Term Professor of Marine Sciences and director of UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, N.C.

Dr. Wizdom Powell

Dr. Jason Surratt

Wizdom Powell, PhD, associate professor of HB, and Jason Surratt, PhD, ESE associate professor, were awarded UNC’s Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement by Young Faculty. Powell and Surratt, two of four UNC faculty members selected, will be asked to present a Hettleman Lecture during the academic year and will receive monetary stipends.

Dr. Jonathan Oberlander

Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, professor of HPM in the Gillings School and of social medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, was selected in July to serve as chair of the Department of Social Medicine. Oberlander has been on the medical school faculty since 1997 and the public health faculty since 2006. He is a knowledgeable and articulate spokesperson about the profound transformation occurring in U.S. health care.

Dr. Herbert Peterson

UNC-Chapel Hill was named as a partner by the World Health Organization to help coordinate research needed to implement a bold new strategy aimed at saving the lives of millions of women, children and adolescents by 2030. The Gillings School’s WHO Collaborating Center, led by Herbert Peterson, MD, professor of MCH, will be the academic hub and lead partner for implementation science related to the initiative, which aims to reduce global maternal mortality by at least two-thirds from the 2010 levels.

Dr. Barry Popkin

Barry Popkin, PhD, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of NUTR, was presented in spring 2015 with the Chinese government’s inaugural award for significant foreign contributions to nutrition. The award honored Popkin’s long-term dedication to research and policy in nutrition and noncommunicable diseases in China.

Dr. Barbara Rimer

Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor of HB, was selected by President Obama to serve a third term as chair of the President’s Cancer Panel. Rimer, first appointed in 2011, led the writing of “Accelerating HPV Vaccine Uptake: Urgency for Action to Prevent Cancer,” a report that calls for efforts to maximize the vaccine’s potential to save lives and prevent avoidable cancers and HPV-related conditions.

Dr. Alison Stuebe

Alison Stuebe, MD, associate professor of MCH and of obstetrics and gynecology in the UNC School of Medicine, has been named Distinguished Scholar of Infant and Young Child Feeding at UNC. Stuebe will work with the School’s Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute and the medical school’s Lactation Services program.

Dr. Jason Surratt

Jason Surratt, PhD, associate professor of ESE, received the 2016 James J. Morgan ES&T Early Career Award, which recognizes early-career researchers who lead the field in new directions through creative ideas. Surratt will accept the award in March 2016 at the 251st annual American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, where he also will give an invited talk.

Dr. Daniel Westreich

Daniel Westreich, PhD, assistant professor of EPI, was appointed to the editorial board of the journal Epidemiology and invited to serve as section editor in methods for Current Epidemiology Reports. He also serves as associate editor for the American Journal of Epidemiology.

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