UNC-Chapel Hill named NIOSH Center of Excellence for Total Worker Health®

September 20, 2021
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has funded 10 Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health®, which promote policies, programs and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. The new Carolina Center of Excellence in Total Worker Health and Well-Being is housed within the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Search for antivirals, COVID-19 treatments boosted by SAS partnership with READDI

September 14, 2021
SAS joins Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative to advance drug discovery with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Marcia Herman-Giddens establishes fund to prevent child abuse homicides

September 14, 2021
Dr. Marcia E. Herman-Giddens created a fund to continue her work to recognize and prevent the deaths of children at the hands of caregivers. In this interview, Herman-Giddens shares more about her work — which led to statewide laws requiring review of child deaths and inquiries in to what could prevent them — and her reasons for giving. The fund honors the memory of her son, William D. Popper.

Partner violence elevates postpartum viral loads in South Africa

September 14, 2021
Infants can be healthy and HIV-free when their HIV-positive mothers are healthy. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) is the best way to support this outcome, but barriers including partner violence mean that large numbers of women around the world are unable to continue with ART after giving birth.

Cold War cache of 100,000 baby teeth provides unique opportunity to understand long-term radiation effects

September 13, 2021
Discovery of a Cold War-era cache of baby teeth, collected during a landmark 1960s study of exposure to radioactive fallout, serves as a rare time capsule that Gillings School alumnus Joe Mangano hopes will increase our understanding of the relationship between radiation exposure and cancer.

Samuel-Ryals honored with prestigious Hettleman award

September 10, 2021
Dr. Cleo Samuel-Ryals, associate professor of health policy and management at the Gillings School, is one of four faculty members who have been awarded the 2021 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement.

NC Medicaid review suggests many infants with prenatal opioid exposure are born to those receiving treatment

September 9, 2021
A new study led by Dr. Anna Austin suggests that, among Medicaid patients in North Carolina, about half of infants with prenatal opioid exposure are born to people receiving medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder – and these babies are more likely to experience better outcomes after birth.

Human, swine waste pose dual threats to water quality after flooding

September 9, 2021
Scientists found several species of bacteria in floodwaters left behind by 2018’s Hurricane Florence, according to a new study from researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

Microeconomic interventions show potential to reduce HIV vulnerability among transgender women

September 9, 2021
Dr. Tonia Poteat and colleagues have published research on flexible microeconomic interventions, which can support gender affirming interventions, improve financial literacy and provide non-stigmatizing, living-wage employment for economically vulnerable transgender women. While not focused on HIV, such interventions have the potential to reduce the structural drivers of HIV risk.

Shaikh named co-director of UNC Nutrition Obesity Research Center

September 8, 2021
Dr. Raz Shaikh has been named co-director of the UNC Nutrition Obesity Research Center alongside fellow co-director Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis.