April 24, 2015

Larry Han, a junior in the biostatistics department at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been awarded a Goldwater Scholarship.

Larry Han

Larry Han

Han is one of three students from UNC-Chapel Hill to receive the honor in 2015. The award is given by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program and provides up to $7,500 per year to defray the educational expenses of undergraduates who intend to pursue careers in science, mathematics, engineering and computer disciplines.

“I’m invigorated to further my research in biostatistical approaches to infectious disease,” said Han. “The Goldwater Scholarship will help me explore an honors thesis in sieve analysis of malaria vaccine efficacy. A significant amount of credit should be afforded to the support of my dedicated teachers and mentors, particularly Drs. Joe Tucker (UNC Project-China), Mike Emch (Spatial Health Research Group), Michael Hudgens and Jane Monaco (both in the biostatistics department at the Gillings School).”

Han was selected as a Goldwater Scholar based on his notable academic merit. He was valedictorian of his senior class at Leesville Road High School and is a Morehead-Cain Scholar double-majoring in biostatistics and mathematics with a minor in chemistry.

Han studied abroad during the spring of 2014 as a Phillips Ambassador at the National University of Singapore, and is currently in the Honors Carolina program with multiple publications and presentations to his credit. Additionally, he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in the spring of 2015.

“Larry demonstrates the remarkable intellectual curiosity and the undisputed abilities to make exceptional contributions to public health research,” said Jane Monaco, DrPH, clinical associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Biostatistics at UNC’s public health school. “His academic record is simply extraordinary. Not only has he excelled academically, but he has also distinguished himself as a talented researcher and gifted communicator. Larry speaks passionately about the global health problems he is addressing — and ultimately the people he is impacting — through his research.”

Han has researched public health issues with the International Diagnostics Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Spatial Health Research Group and the UNC Project-China Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. He serves as a teaching assistant and coordinating committee member for the Foreign Policy Association at UNC-Chapel Hill and is co-founder of the Corpore Sano Undergraduate Medical Journal.

Han also works as a development coordinator for Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health Global, developing fundraising protocol and disbursement of funds to promote HIV testing in China and Hong Kong.

UNC-Chapel Hill has produced a total of 44 Goldwater Scholars. The last time three UNC-Chapel Hill students were named recipients in the same year was 2010.


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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.
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