Ammerman recognized by UNC Center for Public Service for engaged research in NC
April 15, 2018
Dr. Alice Ammerman
Alice Ammerman, DrPH, Mildred Kaufman Distinguished Professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, was honored April 9 with the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award. The award was established in 2000 by then-Provost Dick Richardson to recognize extraordinary public service and engaged scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill.
This year’s awards were presented for engaged teaching, research and partnership.
Ammerman, who also is director of the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP), was recognized for engaged research for the Heart Healthy Lenoir project. The National Institutes of Health-funded effort was a community-based partnership between HPDP, Lenoir County (N.C.) and East Carolina University to reduce heart disease in an area often referred to as the ‘stroke belt.’
Dr. Alice Ammerman (foreground, left) serves heart-healthy foods at a ‘chili cook-off’ event in eastern N.C.
Ammerman and her team worked with primary care practices to help patients control their blood pressure and understand genetic risk for heart disease. The project also focused on improving physical activity and diet, including offering innovative, heart-healthy recipes for favorite Southern meals such as barbecue and hush puppies.
A magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, Ammerman earned master’s and doctoral degrees in nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined the UNC nutrition faculty in 1991, and has amassed a number of honors during her tenure there, including the N.C. Public Health Association’s Public Health Systems and Services Research Academic Researcher Award (2014), UNC’s Ned Brooks Award for Public Service (2011), the American Public Health Association’s Excellence in Dietary Guidance Award (2006), the UNC Gillings School’s Bernard Greenberg Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching, research and service (2000), and the Delta Omega Honor Society and Special Service Award (1981).
Those who have worked with Ammerman admire her collaborative spirit, mentorship and dedication to improving the lives of North Carolinians, particularly of children and those who are disadvantaged.
Seven individuals and two organizations received awards for their work at the annual event, which is hosted by the Carolina Center for Public Service (CCPS).
“Service to others is at the heart of how a great public university engages with communities and addresses issues of shared concern,” said Lynn Blanchard, PhD, CCPS director. “Recipients of this year’s Public Service Awards exemplify the best of how Carolina serves the public good. We are honored to recognize their meaningful and profoundly important work.”
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
