Health Policy and Management News
Mercado builds systems to make care more affordable and confront the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
September 28, 2020 Edwin Mercado came to the Gillings School to learn more about how to run a series of health care facilities in the Philippines and ensure affordable care for all. Now, he's steering a health care system through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students' winning policy proposal calls for COVID-19 care navigation in NC prisons, jails
September 15, 2020 UNC Gillings student Nikhil Rao and his team won a recent COVID-19 Policy Hackathon. The team’s winning policy proposal, titled "Need for Care Navigation Program for Inmates within North Carolina Public Carceral Facilities," called for the N.C. Department of Public Safety and Department of Health and Human Services to intervene to alleviate COVID-19 burden on one of the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Are first-year students first-aid ready?
September 10, 2020 Kate Leo and Hannah Tuckman — both juniors at the Gillings School — have launched an effort to provide UNC students with first-aid kits while sharing campus health care resources.
Villanueva launches fund to aid Native American communities during pandemic
September 8, 2020 Gillings alumnus Edgar Villanueva started the Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) to help funders give more equitably. The DWP’s Liberated Capital fund recently launched the Native American Community Response Fund, directing $2 million to help heavily impacted communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
To reduce food waste, changes in date labeling, marketing and consumer behavior are needed
September 2, 2020 A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) identifies promising strategies for reducing consumer food waste nationwide, including a national campaign to change consumer behavior, federal standardization of food date labeling, and changes to retailer marketing and food service practices, among other measures.
Gillings School to lead multi-year evaluation of NC’s Medicaid transformation
August 28, 2020 Faculty at the UNC Gillings School have entered into a $2.5 million contract for the current year with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The School will serve as the official evaluation center for the state’s landmark Medicaid transformation — a partnership that will have an incredible impact on public health in the state.
Eaker fosters transparency, connection to improve health outcomes in new role at Humana
August 21, 2020 Erik Eaker began a new role as associate vice president of technology solutions at health insurer Humana in March 2020.
Public health education needs a human rights focus
August 19, 2020 Three Gillings School students — representing the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels — and a faculty member co-authored a commentary in The Lancet Public Health on the future of human rights education within the field of public health.
Primary care providers have a role to play in the treatment of opioid use disorder
August 3, 2020 Policies have recently been expanded to encourage primary care providers to administer buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid use disorder – a strategy that appears to be effective according to a new study from researchers in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
Puertas marshals resources to combat pandemic in 26 countries
July 28, 2020 Health policy and management alumnus Dr. Benjamin Puertas enrolled in the Gillings School out of a desire to expand his capacity to make a difference, though he had already founded a school of public health and helped many patients as a medical doctor. Now he is working to train health care workers and ensure the use of best practices in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
