Weber receives Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award for 2023 University Day
October 10, 2023
Dr. David Weber
On October 12, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will award the 2023 Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award to David J. Weber, MD, the Charles Addison and Elizabeth Ann Sanders Distinguished Professor of medicine and pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine, professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, associate chief medical officer at UNC Health Care, and medical director in the Department of Infection Prevention at UNC Medical Center.
The Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award was established in 2010 to recognize outstanding service by a member of the voting faculty of UNC-Chapel Hill. The award calls to remembrance President Graham’s ambition “to make the campus co‐extensive with the boundaries of the State,” in the context of the University’s modern mission to extend knowledge‐based service worldwide. The award is given every year during UNC’s University Day celebration.
Weber’s many titles reflect his many strengths: tremendous expertise in medicine, public health and infectious diseases; devotion to service rendered with the intention of doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people; and managing multiple responsibilities with a steadfast commitment and apparent joy.
It is fitting to recognize Weber’s service as an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist following the worst pandemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic, which caused the death of 42-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill President Edward Kidder Graham.
As a clinician, Weber has led in the treatment of patients and implementation of pandemic protocols — including protocols that he innovated during the 2003 SARS outbreak. As an epidemiologist, he made it his mission to reach as many people and groups as possible with up-to-the-minute, highly reliable scientific information. He has served as a state and national leader in research on many aspects of the pandemic, becoming the most published author based on PubMed citations in the field of hospital epidemiology and infection prevention. During this same period, he also worked to address the mpox outbreak, treating patients, conducting research and sharing information with the public.
Weber joined Carolina’s faculty in 1985 and, since then, has mentored dozens of students, helped secure millions in research funding and published hundreds of research papers. His many awards and honors include the School of Medicine’s faculty teaching award, the H. Fleming Fuller Award and the Gillings School’s Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award.
“It is an honor to have been nominated for this prestigious award,” Weber said in a statement. “I believe that it should be seen as an acknowledgment of all the excellent aid the Gillings School provided to UNC-Chapel Hill and our community in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
University Day will begin on Thursday, October 12, with a gathering at the Old Well for the University Procession at 10:30 a.m. before heading to Memorial Hall for the 11 a.m. ceremony.
Learn more about University Day and the award recipients.
Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.
