
The Gillings School’s top-ranked Department of Health Policy and Management trains the next generation of leaders in management, policy development and research to address the complex challenges of improving population health locally, nationally and globally. We’re working to ensure that all people – irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, geography, religion or economics – have access to high-quality, affordable health care.
About our Department
We have over 400 students enrolled in certificate, undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition to our full-time faculty members, we have more than 130 adjunct faculty members with wide-ranging practice experience who contribute to teaching and learning.
The Department of Health Policy and Management's mission is to improve health for all by creating and translating knowledge into policy and practice and educating current and future health leaders, managers, policymakers, practitioners and researchers.
Our vision encompasses high-quality, accessible and affordable health systems that achieve optimal population health in North Carolina, across the United States and around the world.
At the Gillings School, equity and inclusion mean we welcome, value and learn from individual differences and perspectives. By cultivating inclusion within the School, we better prepare our students, faculty and staff for the diverse world that awaits them. A globally-interconnected world needs culturally competent people to serve as its leaders. Equity and inclusion are assets that contribute to our excellence.
Inclusivity is one of five values that define the culture of the Department of Health Policy and Management.
The value of inclusivity promotes a diverse staff, faculty, and student body who feel fully welcome. It also promotes caring about each other as human beings and benefiting from everyone’s talents.
The Department of Health Policy and Management supports the open letter sent to the Carolina Community by Dr. Mimi Chapman, Chair of the University Faculty regarding the tenure case of Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones. We call upon the Board of Trustees to approve her tenure immediately. Failing to act threatens academic freedom, erodes trust, and undermines the work of the University. Continuing to delay the conferral of tenure is having a long-lasting, devastating effect on our reputation as an institution and our ability to recruit and retain BIPOC students, faculty and staff.
Our Recent News
HPM Assistant Professor Ciara Zachary uses her real-world advocacy experience to inspire students to center underserved populations and work toward health equity. Read more about her work.

Coronavirus Affects Everyone: The Department of Health Policy and Management Responds
A weak rural healthcare system means China’s villages could be hit hard by omicron.


Our Students:
Gillings School’s 82nd commencement celebrates the class of 2022
HPM alumnus Edgar Villanueva (BSPH '03, MHA '05) was the graduation speaker. He is an award-winning author, activist and expert on issues of race, wealth and philanthropy. The founder of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and its fund, Liberated Capital, he is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe.
Melton named HPM’s Distinguished Alumna for 2022
Jessica Melton, MHA ’07 and president and COO of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD is HPM’s Distinguished Alumna for 2022! See her message to the Gillings community.
HPM Lunch and Learn Series
In this inaugural Lunch and Learn presentation, Mark Holmes and George Pink will present "The rural environment and a new type of Medicare provider: The Rural Emergency Hospital."
Watch the video
