Global Health Faculty Members
Gillings School faculty members are leaders in determining risk factors for cancer, using technology to reduce the health impacts of diabetes, creating policy changes to discourage young people from smoking, and designing better ways to reach millions with clean, safe water and sanitation. The lessons we learn globally often are used to save lives and transform public health in North Carolina, and research conducted here has impact and relevance around the world. Last year nearly half of our faculty members research grants and contracts had a global health focus.
Browse our 80+ global health faculty members by department, focus area/research interest, and country.
| Name | Department | Focus Areas and Research Interests | Countries (Current and Previous Research/Work) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Green Howard | Biostatistics | Cardiovascular disease; Obesity; Longitudinal and correlated data; Missing data; Latent variables | China, Thailand |
| Donglin Zeng | Biostatistics | Characterizing environmental impacts on public health | United Arab Emirates |
| Joe Brown | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | The use of fecal waste streams in public health surveillance; the development and application of novel tools to track pathogens in environmental media; and observational and experimental studies to estimate the effects of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in controlling the transmission of infectious diseases | Mozambique, Cambodia, Bolivia, Zambia, South Africa, Vietnam, India, Tanzania, Malawi, United States |
| Michael Fisher | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation processes, infrastructure, and service delivery; Improving water and wastewater treatment; Applications of implementation science and quality improvement methods to improving the performance of water and sanitation systems | Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Ireland, Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Spain |
| Musa Manga | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Planning, monitoring, evaluating and improvement of water, sanitation, and fecal sludge management practices/programs in the Global South; Optimization of sanitation technologies/ wastewater treatment systems and BioResource Recovery (Nutrient and BioEnergy); Development and validation of faecal pathogen hazards and risk models; Sanitation and climate change; Addressing Inequalities in access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in underserved/ marginalized communities; Life cycle costing of water and sanitation programs; Environmental Justices; Aerosols and airborne pathogens emissions associated with Sanitation and FSM practices | Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia |
| Glenn Morrison | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Chemical and transport phenomena; Air Quality and Atmospheric Processes | Denmark, Germany, Sweden |
| Aaron Salzberg | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Drinking water and sanitation; Water resource management; Transboundary water cooperation | Burma, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda |
| William Vizuete | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Air quality; Atmospheric processes; Policy, decision-making and risk assessment | United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Thailand, Ecuador |
| Jason West | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Global Environmental Health: Air Quality & Atmospheric Processes; Impacts and Mitigation of Climate Change: Air Quality & Atmospherics Processes, Human Exposure & Health Effects; Policy, Decision-Making and Risk Assessment: Air Quality & Atmospheric Processes | Mexico, United Arab Emirates |
| Dale Whittington | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Water supply and sanitation in developing countries; Vaccine policy and economics; Management of international rivers; Benefit-cost analysis; Nonmarket valuation | Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Korea, Bangladesh, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Haiti, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Bulgaria, Ukraine |
| Courtney Woods | Environmental Sciences & Engineering | Industrial Hazards; Exposure and Risk Assessment; Environmental Justice | Brazil |
| Noah Kittner | Environmental Sciences and Engineering | Energy systems analysis; Environmental impacts of energy; Low-carbon energy innovation; Deployment; Energy policy; Life-cycle assessment; Energy storage; Electricity system planning, sustainability and development; Air pollution and health effects | Thailand, Kosovo, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Uganda, Switzerland |
| Ryan Cronk | Environmental Sciences and Engineering | Water and environmental health in low-resource settings; Linkages between science, policy, and practice; WASH; Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for water programs; Rural water security and supply | Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Tonga, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Ralph Baric | Epidemiology | Infectious Diseases | Multiple countries |
| Sylvia Becker-Dreps | Epidemiology | Childhood gastroenteritis; Vaccine-preventable illnesses; Childhood pneumonia; Zika virus infections | Nicaragua |
| Ross Boyce | Epidemiology | Vector-borne diseases; Malaria; Hepatitis B; Spatial Epidemiology; Clinical Trials | Iraq, Kenya, Palestine, Somalia, Uganda |
| Myron Cohen | Epidemiology | Transmission of HIV; Prevention of transmission of HIV; Pharmacology of ART in the genital tract; Treatment to prevention of transmission of HIV; Sexually Transmitted Diseases | Multiple countries particularly: Malawi and China |
| Andrew Edmonds | Epidemiology | Infectious disease epidemiology (HIV); Women’s and children’s health | Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia |
| Jessie Edwards | Epidemiology | Epidemiologic methods; HIV | Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Dominican Republic |
| Larry Engel | Epidemiology | Environmental, Occupational, Cancer; Disaster; Neurological; Genetics | China, Norway |
| Stephanie Engel | Epidemiology | Repro/Pediatric; Environmental; Genetics | Norway |
| Nora Franceschini | Epidemiology | Cardiovascular disease; Kidney; Hypertension; Genetic epidemiology; Diverse ancestry populations (African & African Americans, American Indian, Hispanic/Latinos) | England, Brazil. Collaborations in Europe, Australia, Africa in genetic studies |
| Emily Gower | Epidemiology | Infectious diseases (trachoma, lymphatic filariasis); Pharmacoepi; Ocular epidemiology | Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina Faso |
| Justin Lessler | Epidemiology | Infectious disease dynamics; emerging infections; phylodynamics; SARS-CoV-2; influenza; cholera; dengue | Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand |
| Steve Marshall | Epidemiology | Injury; Methods; Concussion; Violence | Australia, New Zealand |
| Joanna "Asia" Maselko | Epidemiology | Global mental health; Social epidemiology; Maternal depression and child development | Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan |
| Kari North | Epidemiology | Obesity; Cardiovascular Disease | Bolivia, Chile |
| Brian Pence | Epidemiology | HIV transmission dynamics; HIV care engagement; HIV transmission prevention; Acute HIV infection; Mathematical modeling | Malawi, Zambia |
| Audrey Pettifor | Epidemiology | HIV/AIDS; Infectious Diseases; Social; Reproductive, Child and Adolescent Health; Implementation Science | South Africa |
| Kimberly Powers | Epidemiology | Infectious Disease Transmission; Mathematical Modeling; HIV Care Continuum; HIV Surveillance; Acute HIV Infection; HIV Prevention | Malawi |
| David Richardson | Epidemiology | Occupational and environmental epidemiology | France, Germany, Canada, Czech Republic, Japan |
| Jennifer Smith | Epidemiology | Cancer; Infectious Diseases; Womens Health | Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Ukraine |
| David Jay Weber | Epidemiology | "Healthcare associated infections; New and emerging infectious diseases; Vaccines; TB disinfection and sterilization; Hepatitis A and B; Biothreats" | Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, multiple locations in Africa |
| Daniel Westreich | Epidemiology | HIV/AIDS; Women's reproductive health; Infectious diseases (Ebola, Zika, HCV); Epidemiologic methods for implementation science | Malawi, Nicaragua, South Africa |
| Mollie Wood | Epidemiology | Innovation Analytical and Intervention Methods; Precision Health; Lifecycle and Families; Cardiovascular and Cardiometabolic Diseases; Opioids, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health | Norway |
| Clare Barrington | Health Behavior | Gender; HIV/AIDS; Latino Health and Migration; Qualitative Methods; Sexuality; Social Networks | Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guatemala, Malawi |
| Ed Fisher | Health Behavior | Cancer; Diabetes; Global Health; Health Behavior; Mental Health | China |
| Vivian Go | Health Behavior | Global Health; HIV/AIDS; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Substance Abuse; Implementation Science; Health Behavior | Vietnam |
| Abigail Hatcher | Health Behavior | Intimate partner violence, HIV/AIDS, Prevention of mother-to-child transmission, food insecurity, structural determinants of health, violence prevention, intervention design, structural equation modeling, mixed-methods research | Kenya, South Africa, Uganda |
| Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson | Health Behavior Maternal and Child Health | HIV; Sexual and reproductive health; Maternal health; Structural and microeconomic interventions; Behavioral economics; Minority health; Mixed methods; mHealth | Bangladesh, Benin, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda |
| Alexandra Lightfoot | Health Behavior | Youth development; HIV prevention; Adolescent health and education; Health Equity | South Africa, Niger, Kenya |
| Suzanne Maman | Health Behavior | Global Health; Health Behavior; HIV/AIDS; Infectious Diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Violence Prevention; Women's Health | Tanzania, South Africa |
| H. Luz McNaughton Reyes | Health Behavior | Dating and intimate partner violence; Adolescent health risk behaviors | Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, South Africa, Tanzania |
| Beth Moracco | Health Behavior | Ethics; Global Health; Health Behavior; Health Policy; Injury Prevention; Reproductive Health; Substance Abuse; Violence Prevention; Women's Health | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Nora Rosenberg | Health Behavior | HIV testing, prevention, care and treatment; Family planning; Intimate partner violence; Implementation Science; Behavioral Science; Social protection; Epidemiology | Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique, Nicaragua |
| Tran Viet Ha | Health Behavior | Health behavior, HIV/AIDS prevention | Vietnam |
| Deshira Wallace | Health Behavior | Psychosocial stress; Diabetes management; Cardiovascular disease; Health inequities | Dominican Republic |
| Jane Chen | Health Behavior | Global Health; HIV/AIDS; Sexually Transmitted Infections; Substance use | Malawi, Vietnam |
| Bill Gentry | Health Policy & Management | Health administration; Health policy; Public health leadership; Public health preparedness / Disaster management | Moldova, Botswana, Ghana |
| Benjamin Meier | Health Policy & Management | Human Rights in Health Policy; the Right to Health, and Global Health Governance | International Institutions |
| Sean Y. Sylvia | Health Policy & Management | Health Economics; Behavioral Economics; Impact Evaluation; Performance-based Contracts; Quality of Care; Early Childhood Development | China |
| Kat Tumlinson | Health Policy and Management | International family planning; Quality of family planning service delivery; Contraceptive use dynamics; Global reproductive, maternal, and child health; Provider motivation; Health systems strengthening; Implementation science | Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Peru, Portugal |
| Tara Templin | Health Policy & Management | Health Economics; Causal Inference; Impact Evaluation; Obesity Prevention; Cardiometabolic Disease; Diabetes; Health System Financing | Mexico, Zambia, United States |
| Karl Umble | Health Policy & Management | Program evaluation; Continuing Professional Training and Development; Leadership and management development | Vietnam, Philippines |
| Janine Barden-O'Fallon | Maternal and Child Health | Family Planning; Reproductive Health; Program Evaluation; Information Systems | Mali, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Liberia, Guinea, Honduras, Bolivia, Uganda |
| Dorothy Cilenti | Maternal and Child Health | Evidence-based Public Health; Health Administratio; Health Care Delivery; Health Policy; Maternal Health; Mental Health; Public Health Leadership; Public Health Practice; Women's Health | Territories: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Sian Curtis | Maternal and Child Health | Reproductive, Child and Adolescent Health; Injury, Violence and Safety; Health Services and Systems Strengthening; Implementation Science | Bangladesh, Ukraine, Zambia |
| Carolyn Halpern | Maternal and Child Health | Adolescent Health; Sexual Health; Health Equity; Mental Health and Neurological Disorders; Reproductive and Child Health; Alcohol and Drug Use; Behavior Science; | Kenya |
| Angela Parcesepe | Maternal and Child Health | HIV/AIDS; Mental health; Substance use disorders; Gender; Violence; Epidemiology; Mixed methods; Implementation science | Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mongolia |
| Herbert Peterson | Maternal and Child Health | Reproductive Health; Implementation Science | Multiple countries |
| Kavita Singh Ongechi | Maternal and Child Health | Evaluation of Maternal and Child Health Interventions; Studying the Influence of Social Factors (Poverty, Education and Gender Equality) on Maternal and Child Health; Water and Sanitation; Infectious Disease; Health Equity; Reproductive Health; Behavior Science; Public Health Studies (Design, Conduct and Analysis); Health Services and Systems Strengthening; Implementation Science | Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Ilene Speizer | Maternal and Child Health | Evaluation of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs; Study of Unintended Pregnancy Risk; Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs; Health Equity; Gender Based and Intimate Partner Violence; Behavior Science; Public Health Studies (Design, Conduct and Analysis); Implementation Science | Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo |
| Christine Tucker | Maternal and Child Health | Latino Health; Migrant Farmworker Health; Women's Reproductive Health; Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders | Guatemala, Mexico |
| Linda Adair | Nutrition | Epidemiology: Maternal and Child Nutrition; Nutrition and HIV; Development Origins of Adult Disease; Cohort Studies | China, Malawi, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa |
| Shufa Du | Nutrition | Nutrition; Hypertension; Obesity; Other non-communicable diseases | China |
| Penny Gordon-Larsen | Nutrition | Epidemiology | China |
| Yuan Li | Nutrition | Nutritional approaches to prevent and manage metabolic syndromes; Precision Health; Molecular, Genomic, and Other Omics; Cardiovascular and Cardiometabolic Diseases; Nutrition, Behavior, and the Environment | China, Hong Kong (S.A.R.) |
| Stephanie L. Martin | Nutrition | Maternal and Child Nutrition; Infant Feeding; HIV Prevention; Implementation Science; Behavioral Interventions | Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Zimbabwe |
| Philip May | Nutrition | Epidemiology | Italy, South Africa |
| Elizabeth Mayer-Davis | Nutrition | Epidemiology: Diabetes; Health Equity; Nutrition and Physical Activity; Obesity | China |
| Shu Wen Ng | Nutrition | Health Economics; Epidemiology: Health Equity; Obesity; Public Health Ethics and Law; Cancer; Exposure Science; Reproductive, Child and Adolescent Health; Nutrition and Physical Activity; Behavior Science; Public Health Studies (Design, Conduct and Analysis) | Chile, China, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, United States |
| Barry Popkin | Nutrition | Design and evaluation of large-scale regulatory/tax measure to improve food systems and diets; Epidemiology: Health Equity; Nutrition and Physical Activity; Obesity; Public Health Studies (Design, Conduct and Analysis); Diabetes | Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, India, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom |
| Lindsey Smith Taillie | Nutrition | Nutrition epidemiology; Food policy; Obesity prevention; Cardio-metabolic disease | China, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Brazil |
| June Stevens | Nutrition | Epidemiology: Obesity; Nutrition; Physical Activity; Heart Disease; Cancer | China, United Kingdom |
| Mirek Styblo | Nutrition | Biochemistry and Toxicology: Disease associated with environmental exposures (Cancer; Metabolic disease, Diabetes); Public Health Studies (Design, Conduct and Analysis) | Czech Republic, Mexico |
| Amanda Thompson | Nutrition | Infant and young child feeding; Social and environmental predictors of health; Growth and development; Microbiome | Ecuador, China |
| Heather Wasser | Nutrition | Determinants of adherence to optimal feeding recommendations for children birth to two years; Behavioral interventions to promote optimal growth and development of infants and toddlers | United States, Senegal, Indonesia, Honduras |
| Steven Zeisel | Nutrition | Choline and brain development; Choline and cancer; Dietary requirements for choline; Choline and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders | South Africa, The Gambia |
| Karar Zunaid Ahsan | Public Health Leadership and Practice | Equity in health services utilization; impact evaluation of social and public health programs; epidemiologic transition | Bangladesh, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Maldives, United States |
| Marie Lina Excellent | Public Health Leadership and Practice | HIV/AIDS; Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI); WaSH; Migrants; Mental Health; Leadership; Health Equity | Haiti, Ghana, India, United States |
| W. Oscar Fleming | Public Health Leadership and Practice | Applied implementation science; System science; Design thinking; Implementation support practice; Technical assistance system strengthening; Maternal and child health; HIV care and treatment; Care and support for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS; Early childhood development | Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Scotland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, The Gambia, The Philippines, Uganda, United States (including work in 30+ states and territories), Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Minzhi Xing | Public Health Leadership and Practice | Health Equity; Community-Engaged Research; Evidence-Based Public Health Interventions; Health Services Research; Cancer; Diabetes; Hepatitis; Liver Disease; Women's Health | Rwanda, Tanzania, Singapore, United States |
Global Faculty Research Map
UNC Gillings faculty members conduct research in 62 countries.
Explore our research on the map below!
