Breastfeeding Exclusive Summer 2020 - Alumni Spotlight
Alumni Spotlight – Dr. Lorenzo Hopper
Raised in Shelby, NC, Lorenzo N. Hopper is the son of Neal Hopper and Sandra Young. Lorenzo entered UNC Chapel Hill in the fall of 2006. During his time as an undergraduate, Lorenzo was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece for his student leadership and service to the UNC students and community.
Lorenzo entered the Master of Public Health program at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC and completed his degree in 2013. Moving back to UNC to pursue his PhD, Lorenzo enrolled into the Department of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) in 2013. He was selected as an APHA Maternal and Child Health Student Section Fellow in 2015. Lorenzo served as Co-President of the Minority Student Caucus and sat on the Dean’s Council board during his tenure as a student representative. Outside of the classroom, Lorenzo worked as a graduate research assistant with the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute on both the Reaching Beyond the Hospital: Supporting breastfeeding for health and nutrition outcomes among vulnerable populations in Wake County and the Ready, Set, Baby research projects.
Lorenzo has contributed to published research in peer reviewed journals. He accepted a full-time position within the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2018 and was recently appointed to Director of the Master of Public Health Program. Lorenzo received his PhD in 2020. Lorenzo plans to contribute to the MCH field through research and to student learning, especially first generation and underrepresented college students, through his teaching and mentorship.