Our Mission
The Department of Maternal and Child Health’s mission is to integrate its teaching, research, technical assistance, and consultation programs to promote and improve the health status of specific population groups – women in their reproductive years, children (including those with special needs), adolescents, and families in U.S. domestic and international settings. Health is defined in the broadest sense to include physical, political, economic, cultural and psychosocial factors.
We assume the responsibility to plan, with each student, an individualized program of learning experiences that will develop their knowledge and understanding of ways to protect and promote health to prevent disease, and to cope with illness in the populations of concern. Major emphasis is placed on population-based solutions to complex health problems that are multifactorial in origin, rather than on short-term solutions for resolving the immediate problems of individuals.
We strive to provide a mixture of disciplinary backgrounds and interests within the faculty to recruit students of varying ethnic and educational backgrounds, disciplines, experience, interests, and skills. By complementing students’ functional skills, we seek to prepare professional health workers who are sensitive to health needs and to the dynamic requirements of change in urban and rural societies, both domestic and international.
Our History
The Department of Maternal and Child Health was established in 1950 with funds from the US Department of Labor’s Children’s Bureau. Since the passage of the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1921, the Children’s Bureau had aided programs designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality. The expansion of these programs increased the demand for professionals in the field. Dean McGavran selected Dr. Sidney Shaw Chipman to head the department.
The women’s movement and changing attitudes toward sexuality heightened the public’s awarness of maternal and child health issues and increased the demand for public programs. The Department of Maternal and Child Health benefitted from this increased exposure and grew dramatically during the seventies.
Today the Department is led by Alessandra N. Bazzano, PhD, MPH.
Contact Information
Our offices are located on the fourth floor of Rosenau Hall.
Office of Student Affairs
Contact your academic coordinator.
Executive Assistant to Chair
Nevila Luzi
nluzi@unc.edu
Phone:(919) 966-5281
Mailing Address
Department of Maternal and Child Health
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
135 Dauer Drive
401 Rosenau Hall, CB #7445
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445