October 9, 2014

Dr. Jim Herrington

Dr. Jim Herrington

Jim Herrington, PhD, MPH, has been named executive director of the Gillings Global Gateway (GGG) and Professor of the Practice of health behavior at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Herrington holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Texas A&M University, a Master of Public Health degree in health behavior from the Gillings School (1983) and a doctorate in environmental health and epidemiology from Colorado State University.

He has been director of the division of international relations at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Fogarty International Center since 2005. In this role, he led efforts to develop new strategic, innovative and collaborative opportunities with research scientists worldwide to advance basic and translational research and research training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. He taught students on the NIH campus for several years.

Prior to his leadership role at the Fogarty Center, Herrington held leadership roles for more than a decade with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), both in CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases and in its Office of Global Health, assigned to the United Nations Foundation. He has longstanding experience and expertise as a behavioral epidemiologist in a range of areas, including family planning services, childhood communicable illnesses, and vector-borne infectious diseases.

He also has worked extensively in several West African countries and has traveled to countries all over the world for work-related assignments. His recent publications have focused upon global health practice, with an emphasis on malaria (Nayar, Bremen, Newton and Herrington, 2012, Lancet Infectious Diseases; Bates and Herrington, 2007, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene), as well as upon falsified/counterfeit drugs (Ranieri, et al., in press, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Herrington et al., under review, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene), for which he and his colleagues are developing technological solutions.

“Dr. Herrington will be an outstanding addition to our School and to the University,” said Gillings School Dean Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH. “As was evident to all members of the search committee, he has the right background, style, skills and capability to succeed. He earned his Master of Public Health degree here and understands the culture. He is collaborative and will want to work closely with colleagues at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, others at UNC and beyond. He has lived and worked in the U.S. and abroad, and he brings his Fogarty know-how. He also brings the perspective of an American Indian, and we value that diversity.”

Herrington will join the School on Dec. 2, pending appropriate approvals.


Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
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