Building upon foundational leadership in maternal and child health

June 4, 2024  

Dr. Carolyn Halpern

At the end of July, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health will bid farewell to Carolyn Halpern, PhD, who has served the state of North Carolina for more than 40 years as a researcher, professor, faculty fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Institute of Child Development and the Carolina Population Center, and, since 2015, chair of the Department of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) at the Gillings School. Halpern will retire at the end of July and will be handing over leadership of the department to a new chair as MCH students return to campus to train as future public health leaders. 

Halpern’s research, mentorship and leadership in maternal and child health, specifically in adolescent and young adult sexual health, have made her a respected figure in the field. She has authored or co-authored 175 peer-reviewed publications and 17 book chapters on these topics. She has led and collaborated on multimillion-dollar projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and served as the primary mentor for 35 Master of Public Health, 23 doctoral graduates and 13 postdoctoral trainees. Halpern has received multiple university-wide and national awards for mentoring and academic leadership, including the John E. Larsh Jr. Student Mentorship Award from the Gillings School and the UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring. 

Halpern shepherded the MCH department through many transitions and has been dedicated to enhancing the department’s expertise and commitment to student success, as well as ground-breaking research and public service. During her tenure as chair, she has worked to increase the diversity of students, staff and faculty. Her legacy includes the hiring of new tenure-track and tenured faculty who are tackling important issues of maternal and child health equity. 

Recent MCH faculty hires include: 

Dr. Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson

Associate Professor Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD, MHS – Dr. Jennings Mayo-Wilson’s research focuses on improving sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including HIV prevention, in vulnerable adolescents and young adults in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, she is interested in: (i) design and evaluation of economic-strengthening interventions to reduce inequities in HIV/SRH, including microenterprise, cash transfers, savings, and financial incentives; (ii) analysis of economic and structural causes of disparities in HIV/SRH, and (iii) use of mobile health technologies to improve implementation and evaluation of HIV/SRH interventions. Her research also examines socio-economic influences on maternal health care-seeking and uptake of assisted reproductive technologies. She has a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Health Behavior at the Gillings School 

Dr. Kristin Z. Black

Assistant Professor Kristin Z. Black, PhD, MPH – Dr. Black is committed to utilizing community-based participatory research, mixed methods, and racial equity approaches to understand and address inequities in reproductive health and chronic disease outcomes. Her research merges 3 key components. First, Dr. Black explores the connections between reproductive health, maternal health, and chronic diseases, and whether these outcomes differ by race/ethnicity or other social identities. Second, she focuses on understanding what individual- and systems-level factors may hinder or facilitate birthing people’s journey through maternal healthcare services. Third, she is committed to transforming research into action by engaging community stakeholders in implementing and sustaining interventions that tackle health inequities and structural racism. She has a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Health Behavior at the Gillings School. 

Dr. Lindsey Yates

Assistant Professor Lindsey Yates, PhD, MPH – Dr. Yates is a health equity social scientist whose research, teaching, and practice sit at the intersection of family planning, maternal and child health services, and implementation science. Dr. Yates focuses on exploring the impact of systemic racism and other types of systemic oppression on racialized and other marginalized populations. She is also invested in identifying and implementing systemic solutions to racial health disparities in maternal and child health outcomes, specifically those most impactful to Black women, birthing people, and children. 

Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka

Professor Iheoma U. Iruka, PhD, MS, MA – Dr. Iruka will be joining the MCH department at the Gillings School in August 2024. She leads projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that minoritized children and children from low-income households thrive through the intersection of anti-bias, antiracist, and culturally grounded research, program and policy. Formerly a research professor in the UNC Department of Public Policy, Iruka is the founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition and a faculty fellow at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. 

Dr. Larelle Brookhart

Assistant Professor Larelle H. Bookhart, PhD, MPH, RD, IBCLC – Dr. Brookhart will join the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute in the MCH department in July 2024. She is dedicated to building a continuum of breastfeeding support locally, nationally and globally. Her research and teaching interests include breastfeeding support, lactation care, nutrition during the first 1,000 days, and maternal and infant health care delivery system factors that may reduce health inequities.  

“Our faculty bring a broad range of expertise and perspectives that enrich the MCH department and our ability to support the MCH population. These impressive scholars who are new to our department bolster our strength as the only standalone academic department of maternal and child health in the country,” said Halpern. “While retirement is bittersweet, I am grateful for each opportunity I have had to collaborate with the exceptional faculty, students and staff at Gillings and centers on campus. It has been an honor to lead this department, and I am confident that it will continue to thrive under new leadership.” 

 Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.