Seven from Gillings School receive Impact Awards; fellowships presented to other public health scholars
March 23, 2016
Students from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health earned seven of the 17 Impact Awards presented by the Graduate School in 2016.
The awards, made possible by the Graduate Education Advancement Board, recognize graduate students for outstanding contributions to the state of North Carolina.
The seven public health Impact Award winners, and their research topics, include:
Jacqueline Burgette
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Health Policy and Management
Creating Better Oral Health Outcomes for Young Children
“Jackie’s study informs state strategies for extending effective oral health services to children attending private early education and childcare programs in addition to the publicly funded Early Head Start program, thus potentially reaching thousands of preschool-aged children in the state,” said adviser Gary Rozier, DDS.
Elizabeth Christenson
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Improving Accessibility and Quality of Sprayfield Data
“The result of Elizabeth’s work is the first comprehensive spatial database of swine farms and their sprayfields. This database will be made available to the public, so that any stakeholder can have access to it,” said adviser Marc Serre, PhD.
Anna Cope
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Epidemiology
Assessing HIV Transmission, Geographic Barriers to Early Diagnosis
“From the moment I met Anna, she expressed an interest in research opportunities to help identify successful strategies to improve the health of people living with HIV in North Carolina,” said adviser William Miller, MD, PhD.
Sarah Hatcher
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Childhood Exposure to Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
“Sarah’s research is highly significant to the global study of antibiotic-resistant bacteria while contributing to the well-being of communities in rural North Carolina,” said adviser Jill Stewart, PhD.
Brooke Nezami
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Health Behavior
Mother-Child Approach Uses Technology to Reduce Sugary Beverage Intake
“Brooke’s work has had a positive and significant impact on the families who participated, and because the intervention she developed uses innovative technology, it has the potential to impact significantly more mothers, children and families upon dissemination,” said adviser Deborah Tate, PhD.
Pasquale Rummo
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Nutrition
Neighborhoods: Do They Support Healthy Eating, Aging?
“Pasquale is drawing attention to critical barriers faced by low-income individuals, minority subpopulations, particularly Latinos, and older adults. His work will ultimately help find policy targets that could be used in policy-level efforts to reduce health disparities by income, race and ethnicity, and age,” said adviser Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD.
Christine Tucker
(Photo credit: Will Owens)
Maternal and Child Health
Identifying Risk Factors in Early Pregnancy to Decrease Preterm Births
“North Carolina is confronted with high rates of preterm birth (12 percent), higher than the national average. In a time of increasing mandates for efficiency and effectiveness of state dollars, Christine’s work will help to address the state’s high rate of preterm birth by ensuring that patients with highest risk are prioritized for pregnancy care management,” said adviser Carolyn Halpern, PhD.
Read more about the recipients’ award-winning research at The Graduate School website.
The 2016 Impact Award winners were honored alongside other students at the 18th annual Graduate Student Recognition Celebration, held April 14 in Alumni Hall in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center.
In addition to announcing the Impact Awards, the Graduate School recognized students who won prestigious fellowships and awards this spring, as well as those inducted into honorary societies. Other Gillings School awardees are listed below.
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Graduate School Leadership Development Scholars include:
- Leslie Adams, health behavior
- Yesenia Merino, health behavior
- Giuliana Morales, health behavior
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Carolina Center for Public Service Community Engagement Fellows include:
- Leslie Adams, health behavior
- Christina Chauvenet, maternal and child health
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Jayne Jeffries, health behavior, received a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants.
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Frank Porter Graham Graduate and Professional Student Honor Society inductees include:
- Mara Howard-Williams, public health leadership
- Martin Kus, public health leadership
- Nelson Pace, epidemiology
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Recipients of Graduate and Professional Student Federation Awards include:
- Zoe Frolking, environmental sciences and engineering (best natural sciences poster)
- Larry Han, biostatistics (best biological and health sciences research talk)
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Recipients of Sigma Xi Awards for Best Posters include:
- Sarah Hoffman, epidemiology
- Morgan Zemaitis*, environmental sciences and engineering *undergraduate award recipient
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External fellowship awardees in biostatistics include:
- Pedro Luis Baldoni, Science Without Borders Brazil
- Emily Butler, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Erika Helgeson, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Eunjee Lee, ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award
- Lu Mao, ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award
- Shaina Mitchell, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Andy Ni, Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association – Epidemiology Section Award
- Rongrong Qu, Fulbright Fellowship for Non-U.S. Students
- Busola Sanusi, Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship
- Thomas Stewart, ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award
- Ran Tao, Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association – Biometrics Section Travel Award
- Kin Yau Wong, Croucher Foundation Scholarship for Doctoral Studies
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External fellowship awardees in environmental sciences and engineering include:
- Ariel Atkinson, National Water Research Institute Fellowship
- Rachel Baum, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Alma Beciragic, USGBC NC Rob Eggers Memorial Scholarship
- Ben Foster, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Katie Friedman, NSF GROW Travel Award; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Technical University of Delft
- Tori Klug, AWWA Larson Aquatic Support – Masters Scholarship
- Yang Ou, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellowship
- Hai-Ryung Sung, Rotary Foundation Grant
- Jingbo Wang, Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research Grant
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External fellowship awardees in epidemiology include:
- Greta Bushnell, NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH – National Institute of Mental Health
- Eboneé Butler, NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH – National Cancer Institute
- Mitch Conover, Amgen Pharmacoepidemiology Fellowship
- Pawinee Doung-ngern, Thailand Higher Education Strategic Scholarship for Frontier Research Network
- Marc Emerson, NIH Predoctoral Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) Fellowship
- Marie-Josephe Horner, UJMT Fogarty Global health Fellowship
- Jared Parrish, Doris Duke Fellowship for the Promotion of Child Well-Being; Travis Fund Fellowship
- Dana Pasquale, 2015 Network Modeling for Epidemics Fellowship; CROI Young Investigator Award
- Jaymin Patel, NESCent Graduate Fellowship
- Jessica Young, GSK Center for Pharmacoepidemiology Fellowship
- Henry Zhang, Merck Center for Pharmacoepidemiology Fellowship
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External fellowship awardees in health behavior include:
- Gabriela Arandia, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-related Research
- Steffani Bangel, National Council of Jewish Women Irma M. Isaacson Memorial Scholarship
- Michael Close, National Cancer Institute’s Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research
- Catherine Jo, NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH – National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Camille McGirt, CBC Spouses Education Scholarship
- Marta Mulawa, NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH – National Institute of Mental Health
- Whitley Raney, Lettie Pate Whitehead Public Health Scholarship
- Jessica Tufte, North Carolina Public Health Association Graduate Student Scholarship; MGMA Fellowship
- Laura Villa-Torres, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
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External fellowship awardees in health policy and management include:
- Juan Carlos Salgado Hernandez, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
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External fellowship awardees in maternal and child health include:
- Sang Hang, Vietnam Education Foundation Fellowship
- Lorenzo Hopper, American Public Health Association – Maternal Child Health Student Section Fellowship
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External fellowship awardees in nutrition include:
- Tania Aburto, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
- Natalie Alexander, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Dorothy MaCrae Hyman Memorial Scholarship
- Nancy Lopez Olmedo, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
- Courtney Luecking, the Commission of Dietetic Registration Doctoral Scholarship from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation
- Lilia Pedraza Zamora, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
- Rebecca Rudel, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Dr. Margaret Ross Memorial Scholarship
- Jessica Soldavini, the Commission of Dietetic Registration Doctoral Scholarship from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation; Tylenol Future Care Scholarship
- Dalia Stern, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
- Melissa Walter, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Lt. Colonel Eleanor L. Mitchell Memorial Scholarship
- Jenna White, Cherry Point Officers’ Spouses Club Scholarship
- Melecia Wright, HHMI International Predoctoral Fellowship
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External fellowship awardees in public health leadership include:
- Marie Lina Excellent, Fulbright Fellowship for Non-U.S. Students
- Diego Garzo, CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) Scholarship
- Rabiga Khozhamkul, “Bolashak” International Fellowship of the President of Kazakhstan
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Da’Esha McPhaul, student services manager in the Department of Health Behavior, received the Excellence in Graduate Student Services Award.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
