January 27, 2005
CHAPEL HILL – Barbara K. Rimer will be the new dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective June 1. University trustees approved her appointment today (Jan. 27).Rimer, a behavioral scientist, is the alumni distinguished professor in the school’s department of health behavior and health education and the deputy director for population sciences at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She previously served as the director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the National Institutes of Health.

“We conducted a national search for this position, and I’m delighted that we found the best person for the job here on our faculty,” Chancellor James Moeser said. “Her expertise and experience make her a fitting choice to lead our nationally renowned School of Public Health.” ” Prior to her position with NCI, Rimer held joint appointments in the School of Public Health and Duke University Medical Center’s community and family medicine department and its comprehensive cancer center.

Rimer is the editor of four books and author of more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. A recipient of numerous professional awards, Rimer received the Healthtrac Foundation’s 2004 Health Education Award. The national award is given to a health educator who has made a substantial contribution to advancing the field of health education or health promotion through research, program development or program delivery.

A member of several national scholarly and professional organizations and journal editorial boards, she is the vice chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Task Force for Community Prevention Services. Rimer was the first woman and the first behavioral scientist to lead the NCI’s National Cancer Advisory Board. She has served on the board of directors of AFLAC, a leading international insurance company, since 1995.

“I am honored to have been selected as the next dean of the School of Public Health,” Rimer said. “Our faculty and staff have worked in nearly every county in North Carolina as well as nationally and internationally. Our faculty conduct research to gain knowledge about the causes and consequences of diseases and ill health and to develop effective ways to prevent disease. We will have many challenges in the next several years as federal health budgets tighten. Serving as dean is an awesome responsibility but also a wonderful opportunity to help a great school become even better.”

A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Rimer received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1970. She earned a master of public health from Michigan in 1973 and a doctor of public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1981. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Bernard Glassman, a communications consultant and software designer.

Rimer succeeds Dr. Bill Roper, who in March 2004 became the dean of the School of Medicine, vice chancellor for medical affairs and CEO of the UNC Health Care System. Dr. Margaret Dardess, adjunct professor of health policy and administration and senior associate dean, has served as interim dean since Roper’s departure and will continue in that post through May 31.

Under Roper’s leadership, the school experienced an increase in national and international prominence. Over the years, the school has distinguished itself by balancing leading-edge science with an emphasis on informed, community-based practice and teaching. The top-rated school of its kind at a public university, the school offers several undergraduate degree programs and numerous master’s and doctoral programs in addition to an extensive complement of distance education courses and certificate programs accessible to the general public and members of the health care community alike.

Signature programs of Carolina’s School of Public Health include: the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, Active Living by Design, the national Public Health Leadership Institute, the Management Academy for Public Health, Get Kids in Action, Public Health Grand Rounds and the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness. The school also is home to several campuswide collaborations, among them the Center for Excellence in Environmental Health Susceptibility, the Program on Health Outcomes and the Program on Ethnicity, Culture and Health Outcomes (ECHO).

 

News Services contacts: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093 or Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415

For further information please contact Emily Smith either by phone at 919.966.8498 or by email at emily_smith@unc.edu

 

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