The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health is the

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

school at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, a public university in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. In 2022, the institution was ranked the best

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

school and tied for second best school overall in the '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranking of American schools of public health. Among schools of public health, the school receives the third most funding in NIH awards.

History

The UNC Division of Public Health was organized in 1936 within the

UNC School of Medicine The University of North Carolina School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It offers a Doctor of Medicine degree, along with combined Doctor of Medicine with Doctor of Philosophy degree and Doctor ...

. Separate status as a school of public health was granted in 1940, making the school the first school of public health established within a state university. The school awarded its first graduate degrees in 1940. Milton Rosenau became the first director of the Division of Public Health in 1936 and served as the first dean of the School from 1939 to 1946. In 1949, both the

UNC School of Dentistry The UNC Adams School of Dentistry (formally UNC Claude A. Adams Jr. and Grace Phillips Adams School of Dentistry) is the dental school, school of dentistry of the University of North Carolina, a public university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I ...

and UNC School of Nursing were added. Along with the Schools of Public Health, Medicine and Pharmacy, the five schools formally became the University's Division of Health Affairs. It is named after donors Joan Gillings and

Dennis Gillings Sir Dennis Barry Gillings (born 25 April 1944) is an American-based British billionaire statistician and entrepreneur, the founder and former chairman of Quintiles Transnational, a clinical research company, headquartered in Durham, North Car ...

, a former UNC professor and the founder of IQVIA. In 2020, the school focused its resources on combating the spread of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

global pandemic, with various research teams tackling a broad range of topics including vaccines, testing, epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy and more.

Academics

In 2018, the Gillings School launched its online Master of Public Health program.

Notable faculty

* Mandy Cohen, physician and Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention *

Clarence Lushbaugh Clarence Chancelum Lushbaugh Jr. (March 15, 1916 – October 13, 2000) was an American physician and Pathology, pathologist. He was considered an expert in radiological accidents and injuries, as well as a pioneer in radiation safety research, ...

, physician and pathologist * William L. Roper, dean emeritus, 12th Director of the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

Alumni

Lisa Bodnar Lisa Bodnar is an American nutritional and perinatal epidemiologist. She is the Vice-Chair for Research and a tenured professor at University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on the contributions of pregnancy weight gain, dietary patterns, m ...

(M.P.H. 1999), Vice-Chair for Research,

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

Julie Story Byerley Julie Story Byerley () is an American physician who is known as a leader in the fields of medical education and pediatrics. Byerley has served as a clinical professor and Dean (education), Vice Dean for Education for the University of North Caro ...

(M.P.H. 1998), Vice Dean for Education,

Garry Conille Garry Conille (; born 26 February 1966) is a Haitian academic, development worker, politician, and author. He served as the acting prime minister of Haiti from 3 June to 11 November 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister from 2011 to 20 ...

(M.P.H. 1999), 15th

Prime Minister of Haiti The prime minister of Haiti ( French: , ) is the head of government of Haiti. The office was created under the Constitution of 1987; previously, all executive power was held by the president or head of state, who appointed and chaired the Counc ...

* Wen-Yi Huang (Ph.D. 1998), cancer epidemiologist and staff scientist at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

Renee M. Johnson Renee M. Johnson is an American scientist specializing in the mental health of Adolescence, adolescents and Young adult (psychology), young adults. She researches substance abuse, substance use epidemiology, and violence in Marginalized group, ma ...

(M.P.H. 1998, Ph.D. 2004), researcher and academic,

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

Jonathan J. Juliano Jonathan James Juliano is an American physician/scientist. He currently works at UNC School of Medicine. Biography Jonathan Juliano is Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at UNC School of Medicine, where he also is Associate D ...

(M.P.H. 1997), researcher and academic,

* Jerry M. Linenger (M.P.H. 1989, Ph.D. 1989), former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, and former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut * Heather Munroe-Blum (Ph.D.), former Principal and

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Vann R. Newkirk II Vann R. Newkirk II (born December 27, 1988) is an American journalist and staff writer for ''The Atlantic'' who writes on politics, the environment, Race (human categorization), race, and healthcare policy. Early life Vann Newkirk grew up in Roc ...

(M.Sc. 2012), staff writer, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' *

Rob Wittman Robert Joseph Wittman (born February 3, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. The district contains portions of the Richmond suburbs and Hampton Roads area, as well as the Northern Neck and Middle ...

(M.P.H. 1990),

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for Virginia's 1st congressional district

References

External links