First Johnson-Baker Scholarships awarded to Master of Public Health students

August 17, 2023

The UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings Master of Public Health (MPH) program has announced the first 10 recipients of the Johnson-Baker Scholarship. The $10,000 scholarships, provided by the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), are named in honor of two of the MPH program’s founders, both of whom contributed to the health of Western North Carolinians in a myriad of ways and died at the height of their careers.

The competitive tuition-offset scholarships are awarded to up to 10 students per MPH cohort who have lived or worked in Western North Carolina (WNC) and have expressed a commitment to supporting WNC communities that have been underserved and disproportionately affected by structural biases.

The 2023-2025 Johnson-Baker Scholars are: (first row, L-R) Dakota Fozzard, Adriana Alvarez, Chasity Leake and Taylor Young; (second row, L-R) Natalie Beach, Niki Maness, Vanessa Howe, Imani Saya, Albert Chow and Ryan Bostic.

The Johnson-Baker Scholars will continue to serve Western North Carolina communities as they cultivate public health skills as students in the UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings MPH program.

Dr. Travis Johnson

Travis Johnson, MD, MPH, the first director of the MPH program, lived with cancer for eight years before he passed away a month before the COVID pandemic broke out and as the first cohort approached graduation. He was a passionate advocate for delivering maternal, child and other public health services in underserved communities. He always sought to “do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly.” In the MPH program, he wanted to “partner with local agencies to give students the opportunity to solve cases based on real-life issues in real time.”

Melissa Baker

Melissa Baker, MPH, was a community health catalyst who enhanced collaboration in caring for children with disabilities, led region-wide quality improvement initiatives in pediatrics and women’s health, and was instrumental in making sure physicians, mental health counselors, schools and law enforcement throughout Buncombe County and WNC understood both the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and how to help people with trauma build resilience skills.

The UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings Master of Public Health program is located on the MAHEC campus in south Asheville, NC. Students attend classes with their cohort once a week during the academic year. In 21 months, they earn an MPH with a place-based health concentration. More information about the program may be found at www.mahec.net/mph.

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