UNC public health and pharmacy schools to launch joint degree program
Oct. 9, 2013
UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and Eshelman School of Pharmacy have partnered to offer a dual-degree program beginning in fall 2014. Candidates in the five-year program will earn a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and Master of Public Health (MPH).
The student-driven proposal for the program, initiated by pharmacy students Deanna Wung and Erin Turingan, was crafted for presentation to The UNC Graduate School by pharmacy school assistant dean Wendy Cox, PharmD, and public health’s associate dean for academic affairs, Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD.
Dean Barbara K. Rimer
“I’m really enthusiastic about the new dual degree,” said Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor at the Gillings School, “and I congratulate the students who catalyzed the effort. Pharmacists who have both the technical knowledge and skills of their disciplines and the population perspective of public health will be 21st-century leaders. We have partnered with the Eshelman School of Pharmacy in other areas and have great regard for the school and its leadership.”
“I fully expect this dual-degree program to be one of the best in the nation, given the high regard and reputation of the two schools involved,” said Bob Blouin, PharmD, Vaughn and Nancy Bryson Distinguished Professor and dean of the pharmacy school. “The opportunity to partner with an elite school of public health that is right next door is one of the things that makes the academic environment here at Carolina so exciting.”
Pharmacy and public health at UNC each holds the number-two spot in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of their respective disciplines.
The dual-degree program does not alter any requirements of the PharmD or MPH. Students enrolled in the PharmD program may apply after their first year of study to the MPH program in epidemiology, maternal and child health, health policy and management or the Public Health Leadership Program.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.
