Gillings Experts in Residence
Gillings Experts in Residence are invited or competitively selected from think tanks, businesses, non-profit organizations, and academia in order to devote their time, expertise, and leadership towards key projects that enhance the mission of the school. These professorships are funded through the 2007 Gillings Gift.
Current Leaders
Sheila Leatherman, CBE, Hon FRCP
Sheila Leatherman
Sheila Leatherman’s professional experience stretches across the breadth of health care management, public health and health policy with expertise in quality of care, performance improvement in the health sector, and health systems reforms. She has worked with over 50 countries globally across Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. Most of her research and policy analysis has been on developing methods to assess health system performance and advising governments on how to improve quality of care in countries throughout the world.
She was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2002 as a member of the Institute of Medicine. In 2007 she was awarded the honor of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her work in the National Health Service for over a decade and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in the UK in 2008. In 2019, she received the Presidential Distinction Award of the International Society for Quality in recognition of her work in low- and medium-income countries. In May of 2020, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative appointed her to the Polio Transition Independent Monitoring Board, which assures functions needed to maintain a polio-free world are mainstreamed into public health programs globally.
Don Holzworth, MS
Don Holzworth
Don Holzworth serves as the Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health, as well as chairman of the Gillings School’s Advisory Council. He applies his extensive entrepreneurial business experience for the benefit of faculty and students.
Don and Jennifer Holzworth funded the Don and Jennifer Holzworth Distinguished Professorship. Read more.
Leah M. Devlin, DDS, MPH
Leah Devlin
Leah Devlin was extremely effective in her role from 2009-2023 as Gillings Practitioner in Residence at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. During her tenure, she worked with faculty, students and staff to effectively talk with state leaders and residents about the many ways that Gillings can and does serve North Carolina. In addition, Devlin was a consultant to the Research Triangle Institute, International (RTI). Devlin has served as North Carolina’s State Health Director from 2001 to 2009 and as the Local Health Director for Wake County Health Department for ten years. Devlin currently serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation Board and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board. She is a Past-President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Directors. Her honors include the UNC’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Devlin earned her bachelor’s, dental and master’s degree in public health at UNC Chapel Hill.
Seizing Leadership Opportunities to Improve Public Health
Ed Baker interviews Leah Devlin on The Practice of Leadership
