Palmquist selected for junior faculty development award
December 17, 2018
Dr. Aunchalee Palmquist
Aunchalee Palmquist, PhD, assistant professor of maternal and child health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been awarded a UNC-Chapel Hill Junior Faculty Development Award of $10,000 for use during the 2019 calendar year.
The award is sponsored by the UNC Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and administered by the provost’s committee on faculty research and scholarly leaves.
Palmquist, who is based in the Department of Maternal and Child Health’s Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, studies the intersection of social inequality and breastfeeding in populations and communities in which there are high rates of maternal and infant perinatal morbidity and mortality.
“This project will support a research agenda on advancing health equity in the ‘first 1,000 days’ – a critical period for maternal and infant health from conception until a child’s second birthday,” Palmquist said. “Racism and structural inequalities in the U.S. disproportionately affect black/African-American mothers and infants. This Jr. faculty award will be used to support community-driven solutions to improve equitable access to care for Black/African American mothers and their premature infants in critical-care settings.”
Palmquist said she is extremely grateful for UNC’s investment in the project.
“Solutions for achieving health equity and resilience must be grounded in the lived experiences of the people that are most negatively impacted by racism, systemic bias and structural violence,” she said. “This award will enable us to conduct community-based participatory research to advance health equity for black/African-American mothers and babies.”
Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.
