Ammerman receives NCPHA academic researcher award

Sept. 25, 2014

Alice Ammerman, DrPH, professor of nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and director of UNC’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, was honored with an award at the North Carolina Public Health Association’s annual fall educational conference, held Sept. 17-19 in Wilmington, N.C.

Dr. Alice Ammerman reviews materials for Heart-Healthy Lenoir, a program she co-developed to improve the health of people who live in Lenoir County, N.C. Photo by Dan Sears.

Ammerman received the Public Health Systems and Services Research Academic Researcher Award from NCPHA’s academic/practice-based research section for “excellence in conducting public health systems and services research in collaboration with public health practice partners.”

“Alice is very deserving of this award,” said Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, professor and chair of nutrition at the Gillings School. “She has a remarkable capacity to recognize and quickly act on opportunities to improve nutrition and health ‘on the ground’ throughout North Carolina, always thinking of sustainability. She links students to communities, frequently leading to post-graduation jobs – a real-world expression of dissemination and implementation science in action.”

The N.C. Public Health Association was formed in 1909 by a group of concerned county superintendents of health in an effort to promote public health in North Carolina. More than a century later, the association of individuals and organizations continues working to improve the public’s health through political advocacy, public awareness and professional development, serving as an interface between research and practice.

Ammerman has been a member of the Gillings School faculty since 1991.