Anna P. Schenck, PhD

About

Before joining UNC in 2009, Dr. Schenck worked with the Quality Improvement Organization for North and South Carolina to improve the quality of care provided to Medicare enrollees. In this role, she led two national measurement development projects, one for colorectal cancer screening and one for hospice care.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Schenck worked with a North Carolina local health department, serving first as a health educator and then as the county epidemiologist.

Dr. Schenck has extensive experience in measure development and assessing the scientific soundness of measures. Her passion is developing methods to use data to improve community health outcomes.

She has served on numerous national measurement panels on various topics, including hospice and palliative care, cancer methods, senior health and community preparedness. Dr. Schenck also chairs the scientific advisory committee for the America’s Health Ranking.

Anna Schenck in the Gillings News

Honors and Awards

Delta Omega
2012, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Teaching Innovation Award
2016, Public Health Leadership Program, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina

Representative Courses

PUBH 730: Leading Quality Improvement in Public Health

PUBH 754: Research Methods for Public Health Practice

Research Activities

Dr. Schenck's primary research activities involve using new data sources or combining multiple data sources to measure public health outcomes and identify opportunities for improvement. She calls herself an "interventionist epidemiologist" because her interest in data -- and big data -- extend only to the extent to which they can be used to intervene. Dr. Schenck is also interested in:

Using data to improve practice
Leadership for population health

Research Interests: Aging, Cancer

Service Activities

NC Governor's Advisory Council on Aging, 2015-current

North Carolina State Public Health Laboratory
Facilitator for state laboratory capabilities assessment, 2014

North Carolina Community Health Center Association
Robert J. Greczyn, Jr. Community Health Center Leadership Award Committee, 2013

Population Health Improvement Partners
Advisory Board, 2011 - current

NC Institute of Medicine Task Force on Evidence-Based Public Health, 2012

Practice Activities

Dr. Schenck chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Americas Health Ranking, a project sponsored by the United Health Foundation.

Key Publications

Building the evidence for decision-making: the relationships between local public health capacity and community mortality. Schenck AP, Meyer AM, Kuo TM, Cilenti D (2015). Am J Public Health, 105(Suppl 2), S211-6.

Quality and Outcome Measures, in Meeting the Needs of Older Adults with serious illness: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Health Care Reform. Hanson LC, Schenck AP, Burstin H. Kelley A, Meier D, (eds).  (2014). Springer Publications.

Quality Improvement Organizations and Continuous Quality Improvement in Medicare, in Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care; Theory, Implementations and Applications. Schenck AP, McArdle J, Weiser R. Sollecito WA, Johnson J (eds). (2013). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

National Institutes of Health Pathways to Prevention Workshop: Advancing Research to Prevent Youth Suicide. Little TD, Roche KM, Chow SM, Schenck AP, Byam LA.  (2016). Annals of Internal Medicine.

Building the evidence for decision-making: the relationships between local public health capacity and community mortality. Schenck AP, Meyer AM, Kuo TM, Cilenti D.  (2015). Am J Public Health.

Staff/Administrative Duties

Associate dean for practice

Director, Public Health Leadership Program

Education