Healthy People, Healthy Planet

Student startup to combat global warming with seaweed

September 13, 2018 UNC undergraduates Lucy Best, Emily Kian and Eliza Harrison (an ESE student) make up team Phyta, a seaweed cultivation initiative hoping to win the prestigious Hult Prize.

Gillings PhD student receives Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Burcu Bozkurt, a PhD student in health policy and management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health has received a 2018 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Now in its 20th year, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships honors the contributions of immigrants and children of immigrants... Read more »

UNC Study: Improvements in WIC packaging led to overall food choice improvements

An improvement in the food choices and nutritional content of WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children), packages has produced analogous changes in overall food purchase habits among program participants. Those are the findings in a new study from the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. The study,... Read more »

Gillings School joins others refusing funding from foundation

February 7, 2018 Dean Barbara K. Rimer has added the name of the Gillings School to those of 18 other schools of public health in a statement refusing funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. The foundation reportedly will receive $1 billion in funding from Philip Morris International.

Characklis and team awarded $2.5M NSF grant to study flood, drought conditions in Oregon

February 2, 2018 Dr. Gregory Characklis is part of a team awarded a $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant to study the variability of flood and drought conditions in Oregon and the effects of those conditions on food, water and energy production in the region.

UNC study links low carbohydrate intake to increased risk of birth defects

January 25, 2018 Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant may want to avoid diets that reduce or eliminate carbohydrates, as such diets could increase the risk of having babies with neural tube birth defects, according to a study led by Dr. Tania Desrosiers.

Prescribing fresh, nutritious food will improve health of low-income, high-risk patients

January 19, 2018 Dr. Alice Ammerman is co-principal investigator on a project that will provide fresh fruits and vegetables to high-risk, low-income patients at a local medical center in an effort to improve the patients' health and well-being. Photo of local farmers market, shown at left, was taken by Dr. Ammerman.

Bilsborrow on UNC team awarded NASA grant to study island ecosystems

December 6, 2017 Biostatistician Dr. Richard Bilsborrow is among researchers who have been awarded a NASA grant to examine the effects of social and ecological factors, particularly human migration and tourism on the environment and on the sustainability of island ecosystems. Photo by 'Aaron' on Creative Commons.

UNC launches innovative Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems

December 4, 2017 UNC has launched the Center on Financial Risk, a partnership between the Gillings School's Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and the UNC Institute for the Environment. Dr. Greg Characklis, Philip C. Singer Distinguished Professor, is the center's director.

Simulations show that slowing climate change globally would improve US air quality, save thousands of lives

November 14, 2017 Actions to significantly slow climate change would improve air quality in the United States, avoiding roughly 24,000 premature deaths associated with air pollution in the year 2050.