May 27, 2016

Jed Hinkley holds a sweet potato, one product of the farms and markets he often visits. (Contributed photo)

Jed Hinkley holds a sweet potato, one product of the farms and markets he often visits. (Contributed photo)

Jed Hinkley, MPH, is the “go-to” person if you want to talk about healthy food access in northeastern North Carolina.

As the healthy foods coordinator for Albemarle Regional Health Services, working with the Partnerships to Improve Community Health grant, Hinkley promotes equitable access to food. His efforts include initiatives that increase the number of local produce vendors and encourage vendors to accept the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

A 2015 graduate of the Gillings School’s Department of Health Behavior, Hinkley now divides his time between the office and the field. He’s often in the car, visiting farms, markets and roadside stands throughout the 17 counties he supports.

“I wanted to work in a rural part of the state where significant health disparities exist, particularly in the areas of food access, physical activity, obesity and diabetes,” Hinkley says.

He felt compelled to apply to his current job out of desire to make a positive impact in a region where 15 of the 17 counties he serves are economically distressed. Almost all have obesity rates higher than 30 percent, and childhood poverty rates exceed 40 percent in some areas.

Hinkley says that every day at work, he applies the skills he learned as a master’s student.

“My studies at UNC Gillings gave me a good foundation in evaluation, methods and theory,” he says. “They also taught me the importance of ‘soft skills’ such as emotional intelligence and working with different types of people.”

When not on the road, Hinkley relaxes by spending time with his two young daughters. On nice days, he enjoys biking through the beautiful farmland he knows so well.

This story originally was published in the Spring 2016 edition of Carolina Public Health Magazine.


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

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