The department of health policy and management at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health is pleased to announce the following recent award winners and student global adventures and achievements.
John Paul, HPM's winner of the inaugural Teaching Innovation Awards
Eight faculty members at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health - one from each academic unit at the School - were selected by their students to receive the School's inaugural Teaching Innovation Awards at a reception on Feb. 7.
John Paul, PhD, clinical associate professor, was health policy and management’s award recipient.
The award presentation was part of the public health school's "Celebrate Teaching!" Month.
Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz presented the inaugural Teaching Innovation Awards."The winners of our innovative teaching award exemplify faculty members who strive for high quality learning among students," said Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD, professor of epidemiology and nutrition and associate dean for academic affairs at the public health school.
"They engage students in their own learning process by providing them with the opportunity to practice what they have been taught through creative assignments; to discuss, challenge and apply the new knowledge to current issues; and to employ new technologies, as deemed appropriate, for acquiring the information and in assessing whether the information has been learned."
These faculty members, Siega-Riz said, transcend the traditional lecture "and are not afraid to experiment with new teaching and learning methodologies. As such, they serve as role models and contribute to the achievement of our School's mission to educate the next generation of public health leaders.
Holmes selected for Triangle Business Journal’s ‘40 under 40’ leadership award
Mark Holmes, PhD, assistant professor of health policy and management, was selected by the Triangle Business Journal as a recipient of its '40 Under 40' Leadership Award for 2012.
Holmes is senior research fellow, co-director of the Program on Health Care Economics, and finance co-director at UNC's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. He also directs Sheps Center's North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center.
His interests include hospital finance, rural health, health policy and patient-centered outcomes research.
Holmes served as vice president of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, where he gained experience in North Carolina health policy. In 2010, he received the business journal's Health Care Heroes Rising Star Award as a result of his state policy work.
"Dr. Holmes represents an example of true leadership among our faculty, as he is conducting real-world research to help improve the health of North Carolina's 2.7 million rural residents," said Peggy Leatt, PhD, professor and chair of the health policy and management department. "Mark will continue to play a significant role in the future of the health of our state and in the future of the University. I am delighted to have him on our team."
"These leadership awards were created to recognize young leaders in our community who aren't just top talent in their fields," said publisher Bryan Hamilton, on the journal's website. "They are making our region stronger with their expertise, passion, drive and influence."
HPM Students Crossed Borders Over Spring Break
Florida, Texas, California...these are popular spring break destinations. Kathleen Miller, Dilan Luvis, Edwin Alcorn and Jasmine Stringer have another idea on the best place to spend spring break. These four health policy and management students, along with students from the Universities of Michigan and Missouri, crossed borders and attended the first U.S.-German Excursion to Bayreuth and Berlin.
"We have had a relationship with the University of Bayreuth for several years," said Bruce Fried, associate professor in health policy and management. "We have hosted students from the University of Bayreuth in Chapel Hill and faculty members have taught classes in Germany. This is the first time the University of Bayreuth hosted students from Carolina."
The week-long excursion, which was initially designed by Fried and Andreas Schmid, former German exchange student and faculty member at the University of Bayreuth, began March 3 in Bayreuth and ended in Berlin. The goals of the session were to gain a deeper understanding of the German health care system by engaging with players from different industries, learn about the challenges the German health care system is facing and discuss the implications of the various health reforms in Germany. Students visited manufacturing companies, parliament, the Federal Ministry of Finance and Health, a local hospital, pharmaceutical companies and a private health insurer.
"What first attracted me to the German Excursion program was that it will provide exposure to the German health care system, as well as a better perspective on how the pharmaceutical industry operates abroad, specifically seeing two of the top-leading pharmaceutical companies in the world," says Dilan Luvis, student in the residential master's program. "Additionally, getting a chance to travel to Berlin, Munich, and Bayreuth to immerse myself in the German culture was a huge bonus."
"We are very excited about this international travel offering," says Fried. "It only strengthens our relationship with the University of Bayreuth and provides our students with another hands-on global opportunity."
Social Entrepreneur Fellow develops educational program for young girls in Uganda
Studying abroad, while valuable can be a daunting experience-- the language barrier and the cultural adjustment can present challenges, and the potential of feeling overwhelmed is common.
But Jen Serdetchnaia '12, a health policy and management major in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, is no stranger to the experience. As a Buckley Public Service Scholar participant and an APPLES Social Entrepreneur Fellow, she has sought out opportunities to study abroad, looking forward to the challenges.
With the creation of Empower U, a women's education effort in Uganda, Serdetchnaia proved to herself and others that there is a way to combine an interest in public service, social innovation and traveling abroad.
Serdetchnaia, along with two other UNC students and Immaculate Okurut, her local partner in Uganda, developed Empower U to promote women's rights in rural Uganda by giving them the tools and the opportunity to finance their own post-secondary educations. Serdetchnaia's background in entrepreneurship inspired her to provide financial skills training to empower uneducated Ugandan women.
"I wanted [Empower U] to be more than just another nonprofit organization in Uganda, so I created a training program for women to work with a microfinance institution," she said.
Serdetchnaia's idea for Empower U began with her three-month internship with the Microfinance Support Center in Uganda in the summer of 2009. During that time, she and Okurut provided 10 goats to 10 young girls so they could practice rearing animals for sale and money saving skills.
With the funds from the Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, Serdetchnaia was able to travel again to Uganda in December of the same year to purchase 30 pigs for 30 more girls, as well as establish a training program at Carolina to prepare many more students to serve in ambassadorial positions. The now 60 young girls involved in Empower U are expected to continue raising their animals until they have enough animals to sell to farmers. The profit from the sales will be deposited in a local microfinance bank for the girls' post-secondary educations.
Making her project one that continually helped new young girls was one of Serdetchnaia's goals. She did not want her project to stop with only aiding 60 young girls. The financial training is designed to be valuable to the original recipient as well as to future young people who receive passed down knowledge, skills and training so they, too, can succeed.
Because of Serdetchnaia's dedication to the program's success, Empower U has been widely accepted at Carolina. "It is amazing having something that was just a concept written down on a napkin become an idea picked up by others," she said.
Believing that Empower U opens the door for other students to get involved with a specific project, Serdetchnaia hopes the process of studying abroad will become more about service to others. Today, training for Empower U helps prepare students to travel to Uganda to conduct evaluations, consult and expand the project. And though it is Serdetchnaia's last year as a student at Carolina, she is confident that Empower U will grow and expand in ways that she's never imagined; empowering young women in Uganda and beyond.