Samuel-Hodge wins inaugural Gillings Faculty Award for Excellence in Health Equity Research

October 12, 2020

Dr. Carmen Samuel-Hodge

Carmen Samuel-Hodge, PhD, RD, associate professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been selected as the recipient of the inaugural Gillings Faculty Award for Excellence in Health Equity Research.

The Gillings Health Equity Faculty Research Award recognizes faculty who demonstrate excellence in research that has made a substantial impact on improved equitable outcomes or sustained reduction in inequities in a pressing public health issue.

Samuel-Hodge embodies the intent of the award with her work embedded in the Granville Vance Public Health District Health Department. Her research is unique and is an incredible model for community engagement to solve health inequities. In addition, her research on community-based diabetes self-management has had significant impact in improving outcomes and practice. She has also been a remarkable mentor who has fostered the growth of a network of doctoral and postdoctoral students of color. Samuel-Hodge has been exemplary in her work to address structural issues of health equity.

Samuel-Hodge has been a professor of nutrition since 2003 and serves as Evaluation Core Director for the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and as Translational and Implementation Research Specialist at the Granville Vance Public Health District Health Department.

Kauline Cipriani, PhD, associate dean for inclusive excellence and associate professor in the Public Health Leadership Program, noted, “Dr. Carmen Samuel-Hodge is a truly extraordinary person. Her diabetes prevention and management expertise is highly sought after. She has broadened access to mentorship with her Sistah-Docs organization, and her contributions at the Granville Vance Health District Health Department have been transformative. It is no surprise that our colleagues selected her to receive the inaugural Gillings Health Equity Research Award.”

“The Department of Nutrition is so very fortunate to have had Dr. Samuel-Hodge on our faculty for many years, doing remarkable work, both seen and unseen, to mentor and support our students and to advance opportunities for good nutrition and better health and well-being in vulnerable communities around the state and beyond,” said Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of nutrition and medicine and chair of the Department of Nutrition. “Her wisdom and expertise are remarkable – we are so glad that with this inaugural award we have the opportunity to celebrate her amazing, lasting contributions toward health equity.”

Samuel-Hodge will receive her award during University Research Week in a session on health equity research co-sponsored by the Gillings School, the Center for Health Equity Research and the Institute of African American Research on Oct. 21 from 3-4 p.m. Samuel-Hodge will give a presentation, followed by presentations from Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, PhD, from the Department of Social Medicine and Shauna Cooper, PhD, from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Register for the presentation online.

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