Rachel Wilfert pays attention to people and places.
Name: Rachel Wilfert
Position: Director of workforce training and education and interim director for the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) / Adjunct faculty in the Public Health Leadership Program
Time at the Gillings School: ~12 years
Rachel Wilfert smiles with her daughters.
What I do at UNC Gillings (and why I love it): NCIPH provides support to projects and programs that enhance the work of public health and other agencies across North Carolina. I work with an amazing team that collaborates with partners to deliver continuing education and professional development to public health professionals, often in tandem with the N.C. Division of Public Health. We put on programs for local health department staff, offer trainings for school and clinic nurses, and teach leadership skills to state and local public health leaders.
I like a lot of things about the Gillings School, but top of mind is how much I value our public health mindset of service and taking care of people. It’s wonderful to work in a place that focuses on health in a very broad and inclusive way. In my role, even though I’m focused mostly on administrative tasks, I ultimately support people who are on the front lines of serving our communities. It’s tremendously satisfying to be part of an organization that strives to connect the incredible knowledge and expertise of our faculty, staff and students with real world needs.
The pivotal moment that led me to public health: happened during my graduate studies. I was in Duke University’s Doctor of Medicine program when I came to the Gillings School to get my Master of Public Health. I had already done a year of clinical rotations, so I knew the power of one-on-one interactions with patients, but I’d also begun to see the same cycle over and over of people returning because of preventable issues. I was frustrated with some of the limitations within hospital and health care systems, and public health revealed itself as a way to impact the health of whole populations, often through prevention rather than reaction. (It’s also true that, as soon as I started my first class in Gillings’ maternal and child health department, I knew that I had found my people — my tribe!)
My first job ever: was babysitting when I was 11 years old. Now that I’m a mother, I can’t believe parents went out and basically left their kids with another kid! I remember being relieved when the babies slept and having fun playing with the (slightly) younger kids.
If I could wake up tomorrow with one new ability: I’d want to be able to sing beautifully. I enjoy singing and I do it, but I’m totally mediocre. Both of my daughters, who are 11 and eight, happen to have lovely singing voices. We sometimes sing together in the kitchen as part of Pandora-induced dance parties. While they do give me disparaging looks, they’re usually pretty good about letting me join in.
My biggest adventure of the past year: was visiting Australia with my girls. I love traveling and how it makes you pay attention to the world in a new way and get a fresh perspective. This vacation was a great opportunity to visit friends and take the girls on their first trip out of the country. It’s my goal to raise children who know who they are, are confident and find lots of small ways to celebrate life. Australia made me reflect on all of this. I loved seeing them pick up on the little differences in daily life that we found in Sydney, including different foods, people and the overall environment. You don’t see many wombats as playground sculptures in North Carolina!
It was also their first time in a really big city, so they were entranced with figuring out how to be urban. Using the city’s mass transit system was a huge adventure. Australia also has such amazing wildlife, including some of the world’s most colorful birds just hanging out in the Sydney streets. We went whale watching, and I genuinely thought my youngest might jump in the water to commune with the whales and dolphins that came right up to the boat. I was actually holding onto the back of her shirt to make sure she didn’t go overboard when she told me, “I just want to be with them, Mom.” It was so special to see her lose herself completely in that moment of being in the world.
We also got to connect with some families there and it was great to hear the kids sharing stories about their schools and activities and finding common ground despite living halfway around the world from each other. They were even watching the same kid YouTubers! In a small but real way, it brought home how interconnected we all are. This human link is something I think of as an implicit value in public health, which is part of the reason I value our field so deeply.
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