April 26, 2011
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health has announced recipients of the inaugural Innovation + Inspiration Awards for faculty and staff members. Awardees are Ralph S. Baric, PhD, professor of epidemiology; Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, clinical associate professor of health policy and management and nutrition; and Glenn Walters, PhD, director of the ESE Design Center in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
 
The criterion for selection is innovation – the production of ideas, programs, products or methods that have transformed disciplines and accelerated solutions for important public health problems.
 
Dr. Ralph Baric

Dr. Ralph Baric

Baric, recipient of the faculty research award, was among the first to employ synthetic biology to address problems in virology. He currently builds vaccines against common human respiratory viruses that cause high morbidity and mortality in the developing world. His lab was the first to demonstrate that noroviruses, which are responsible for 90 percent of epidemic nonbacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis worldwide, evolve rapidly, resulting in new strains that emerge every two to three years. The discovery opened the door for norovirus vaccine development. One nominator said Baric’s “professionalism and collaborative nature have allowed him to excel at building a productive laboratory. He is supportive, selfless, humble and generous with ideas and reagents. [This has] allowed him to build professional relationships with a diverse group of students, postdoctoral fellows and collaborators, and as a result, he has been extraordinarily productive.”

 
Dr. Suzanne Hobbs

Dr. Suzanne Hobbs

Hobbs, who joined the UNC health policy and management faculty in 2002, was recognized for her innovations in teaching. She initiated the establishment of a consortium of schools committed to developing executive doctoral programs and helped extend the model as the world’s first distance Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program to use Internet video for real-time classes. Hobbs, who has directed the program since 2006, globalized it by piloting the inclusion of international students and addressing the need for interdisciplinary leadership development within the senior public health workforce. More than a dozen schools now participate in the consortium, including London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Toronto, the French national school of public health and the Norwegian School of Management. Her award cites her “vision, perseverance and success in advancing health leadership education and capacity.”

 
Dr. Glenn Walters

Dr. Glenn Walters

Walters received the staff Innovation + Inspiration Award for his simple and elegant equipment designs. “He has the uncanny ability,” one nominator said, “to evaluate the efficacy of a concept presented verbally or by way of [a rough sketch] … and to modify existing instrumentation or sampling equipment to meet the intended use.” One researcher praised him as “the most deserving unsung hero I have ever met.” One of Walters’ recent successes was the design of equipment for a mobile laboratory to remove nitrogen from hog waste. The project was part of a Gillings Innovation Laboratory led by Mike Aitken, PhD, professor and chair of environmental sciences and engineering. Read more about Aitken’s Innovation Lab in Carolina Public Health magazine.

 
“We established these awards to recognize people who have invented or developed specific innovations that improve public health,” said Julie MacMillan, MPH, managing director of Carolina Public Health Solutions. “In the process of doing their own work, Drs. Ralph Baric, Sue Hobbs and Glenn Walters have inspired colleagues to change the approach or trajectory of their work. We have a number of such faculty and staff members at the school, and it’s fitting to thank them in a visible way. It’s also important to tell their stories so more people learn from them.”
 
The Gillings Gift provides the School with critical resources to anticipate public health challenges, accelerate solutions and improve people’s lives across North Carolina and around the world. Gillings Innovation Laboratories focus on solving big public health problems, including lack of access to clean water or health care, epidemics and obesity. Funds from the gift also support leadership (including visiting professors), students, strategic investments and other public health initiatives.
 
To learn more about projects and programs sponsored by Carolina Public Health solutions, visit www.sph.unc.edu/accelerate.
 
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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

 

 

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