ALBD at 10 – still growing strong

Active Living By Design (ALBD) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012, but there were no cakes with gooey icing. Instead, the group reflected on all it has accomplished to create environments and policies that get people moving, encourage healthier eating and improve overall well-being. They’re building on all the lessons learned as they start their second decade.

“Ten years ago, it was simply a vision,” says Sarah Strunk, director of ALBD.  “Ten years later, it is a movement.” More...

Hospitals, public health departments join forces to uncover local health needs

In Wake County, some of the state’s leading medical centers--WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Duke Raleigh Hospital and UNC Rex Healthcare-- are teaming up with other health agencies and organizations to identify the health priorities of people in Raleigh and the surrounding urban and rural areas. “This is an amazing collaboration, not just of hospitals and local health departments, but also non-profits like United Way and Wake County’s FQHC ” said Rachel Wilfert, MD, MPH, Manager of Training and Technical Assistance at the North Carolina Institute for Public Health. More...

New structure enhances Institute efficiency

NCIPH's management team. L-R, Carol Gunther-Mohr, Sarah Strunk, Jen Horney, Anna Schenck, Kathryn Cheek, and Rachel Wilfert

The North Carolina Institute for Public Health’s new organizational structure is designed to support the Institute’s mission to be a bridge between the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the public health practice community, including government agencies and community organizations. More...

Students and practitioners learn and share

Bringing people together to share ideas and gain new insights is one of the Institute’s most valued missions. Two recent examples are the 34th UNC Minority Health Conference and the 33rd Annual Occupational Safety and Health Winter Institute, both held in February, both facilitated by NCIPH. More...

Study launched to explore new methods and measures to assess the impact of the economic recession on public health outcomes

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has funded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), along with 6 other institutions, to examine the impact of system changes on public health through the lens of a natural experiment. For UNC’s research, the economic recession is the natural experiment which will be used to estimate the effect of public health spending and programs on population health.  More...

Practice Pathways Seminar orients students to state, local public health

There’s always a transition from the classroom to what’s often called “the real world.” Public health is no exception, and because the field is so diverse, that transition may be one of the most complicated within the university. On Jan. 17, three top leaders from the N.C. Division of Public Health came to the School to help new students understand how public health practitioners in North Carolina work together and with the Schoo at the Practice Pathways Seminar. More...

Taking time to celebrate Public Health

Sometimes, public health practice is a little like the electrical grid or the landing gear on an airplane – people don’t think much about it until it’s not there. They take for granted that water will be clean and abundant, that school lunches will be nutritious, that the sources of disease and infection will be identified and destroyed, that public officials will be prepared to take care of us in an emergency. More...