William A. Sollecito, DrPH

About

After working for ten years in health services research, Dr. Sollecito worked in the contract clinical research industry at Quintiles Transnational Corporation from 1982-1996, where, as President of Quintiles Americas, he was responsible for all clinical operations in North and South America. He was appointed to the faculty of the UNC School of Public Health in 1997 and was Director of the Public Health Leadership Program from 2000 through 2009.

Dr. Sollecito currently lectures and publishes on topics that span team and organizational leadership, project management and continuous quality improvement. He is the lead editor and co-editor, respectively, of two published books on continuous quality improvement in health care. He is also a member, since 2007, of the North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation Board, whose primary goal is to foster continuous improvements in local health agencies across North Carolina; past board memberships include the Board of Directors of Quintiles Transnational Corporation and the Board of Water Partners International (now named Water.Org).

Honors and Awards

Inductee
2016, Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health

Award for Excellence in Teaching
2005, The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program

Legacy Laureate
2002, University of Pittsburgh

Teaching Interests

Dr. Sollecito also teaches a Vision and Leadership course at Duke University.

He has given numerous invited lectures on leadership, vision, quality improvement and project management. He has a strong interest in innovation in teaching and has spent most of his academic career in developing and teaching online courses.

Research Activities

While in the contract research industry, Dr. Sollecito conducted or was an administrator over numerous drug development programs, including several new drugs that were approved by the FDA.

Service Activities

Dr. Sollecito served on several university committees, especially those related to the development of distance learning, during the formative years from 1997 to 2008.

Board Member, Population Health Improvement Partners Advisory Board, Chapel Hill, NC

Practice Activities

Dr. Sollecito is actively involved in the accreditation of local health departments through membership on North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation Board.

He gives ongoing presentations to local and national agencies on topics such as leadership and quality improvement.

Key Publications

Building diverse leadership in an academic medical center: the ACCLAIM Program. A.F. Drake, W.A. Sollecito, K.E. Horneffer, J.B. Martin, L.M. Westerville, B. Murphy, A.P. Schenck, L. Carter-Edwards,  (2023). Journal of the National Medical Association, , 115(2), 134-143.
View publication

McLaughlin and Kaluzny’s Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care, 5th Edition. J.K. Johnson and W.A. Sollecito (Eds.) (2020). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Understanding Variation, Tools and Data Sources for CQI in Health Care, in J.K. Johnson and W.A. Sollecito (Eds.), Mc Laughlin and Kaluzny’s Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care, 5th Edition. W.A. Sollecito and D. Hardison (2019). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Value of a Small Control Group for Estimating Intervention Effectiveness: Results from Simulations of Immunization Effectiveness Studies. Hutchins, S.J., Brown, C., Mayberry, R., Sollecito, W. (2015). Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, 4(3), 227-238.

Research Team Experience as a Platform for Leadership Development of Statisticians. W.A. Sollecito and L.A. Evarts (2015). A.L. Golbeck, I. Olkin, and Y.R. Gel (Eds.), Leadership and Women in Statistics, Dana Point, CA: Chapman and Hall/CRC Statistics.

Preparing Biostatisticians for Leadership Opportunities. Lisa LaVange, William Sollecito, David Steffen, Lori Evarts and Michael Kosorok (2012). AMSTAT NEWS, American Statistical Association.

McLaughlin and Kaluzny's Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care, 4th Edition. W. A. Sollecito and J.K. Johnson (Eds.) (2013). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Implementing Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care: A Global Casebook. C. P. Mc Laughlin, J. K. Johnson, and W. A. Sollecito (Eds.) (2012). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Staff/Administrative Duties

Co-Director, Academic Career Leadership Academy in Medicine (ACCLAIM), UNC Health Care System, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC (current)

Faculty Director, Core Public Health Certificate Curriculum, Public Health Leadership Certificate Curriculum (current)

Certificate Administrator, Online Certificate Programs, Public Health Leadership Program (current)

Director, Public Health Leadership Program (2000-2009)

Education