Rimer announces intent to appoint Halpern as chair of maternal and child health

April 7, 2015

Dean Barbara K. Rimer has announced her intention to appoint Carolyn T. Halpern, PhD, professor and interim chair of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Maternal and Child Health, as the department’s first female permanent chair. The decision is pending approval of the UNC board of trustees.

Dr. Carolyn T. Halpern

The Gillings School’s maternal and child health department was founded in 1950 and is one of the world’s leading academic departments for research, teaching and practice. Halpern has served as interim chair since July 1, 2014, and has served on the department’s faculty for seventeen years.

Halpern holds a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Houston-Central Campus. She has focused her research career on improving understanding of healthy sexual development, and the implications of adolescent experiences for developmental and demographic processes into adulthood. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on these topics.

Halpern has also served as the director of the maternal and child health doctoral program and the director of training at the Carolina Population Center. At UNC, she teaches courses on adolescent health, sexuality, theory and grant development, in addition to mentoring many individual students and postdoctoral scholars.

Before accepting her current position as interim chair, Halpern acted as vice-chair for one year.

“Dr. Halpern is an impressive scholar, researcher and teacher,” said Dean Rimer, DrPH, Alumni Distinguished Professor. “I am delighted she has agreed to serve as permanent chair.”

Halpern is deputy director and co-investigator of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and principal investigator of two other grants funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her active grants portfolio includes serving as co-investigator for several National Institutes of Health projects evaluating interventions to reduce HIV risk in adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.

Her most recent publications appear in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, British Medical Journal, Journal of Adolescent Health, and the Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Halpern has been recognized by the UNC Graduate School for excellence in doctoral mentoring and by the National Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health with the Loretta Lacy Academic Leadership Award.

Of her new role, Halpern said, “I am excited about the opportunity to help move the department forward into today’s emerging sciences and to continue our longstanding dedication to improving the health of women, children and families — domestically and globally.”