NEWS

Briefs

Dr. Margaret B. Dardess, former senior vice president of communications at GlaxoSmithKline, has joined the UNC School of Public Health as associate dean for administration and adjunct professor of health policy and administration.

As associate dean for administration, Dardess is in charge of finances, personnel, general administrative activities and information technology.

Dardess brings with her extensive management and health-care financing experience. As senior vice president of communications for GlaxoSmithKline, she founded the company’s health policy department. She has been involved with the School of Public Health since 1999 as a member of the school’s advisory council, a select group of business and government leaders from North Carolina and beyond.

She holds a doctorate in Japanese history from Columbia University and a law.

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Student receives Kathryn J. Kerr Memorial Scholarship

Rose Wilcher, a student in the UNC School of Public Health’s department of health behavior and health education master’s degree program, is this year’s recipient of the Kathryn J. Kerr Memorial Scholarship.

Wilcher, who is from Chapel Hill, was nominated for this award by a fellow student who highlighted her commitment to public health matters, demonstrated through her nine-month volunteer effort with the Orange County Affordable Housing Task Force and through her work on anti-social behavior prevention among high-risk youth.

The recipient of this award must be a second-year student in the master’s degree program who demonstrates academic excellence and has a sense of activism in his or her work, and has shown leadership in and commitment to social justice issues and activities, particularly those focused on women’s health issues.

A 1984 graduate of the school’s department of health behavior and health education, Kathryn J. Kerr focused much of her attention toward women’s health issues. After her death in 1995, Kerr’s parents established this award as a way to honor their daughter with support to students with interests similar to hers.

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School of Public Health’s Roper earns state, national honors

Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Public Health, has garnered accolades in recent days from a North Carolina business publication and a national health-care organization.

The Triangle-based Business Journal chose Roper as its lifetime achievement winner for his active role in the improvement and advancement of health care through industry, government and education. In an article titled "Guarding health of public his mission," the March 15 issue profiles Roper and his contributions.

On March 17, the American College of Healthcare Executives named Roper an honorary fellow during its 68^th convocation ceremony, held in Chicago. This title is given to those who have had a positive impact on the health-care profession and who display strong leadership qualities.

Before becoming dean in 1997, Roper served as senior vice president of Prudential HealthCare in Roseland, N.J. Other past posts include being president of the Prudential Center for Health Care Research and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both in Atlanta. He has served on the senior White House staff, was administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration and worked as a county health director in Alabama. A pediatrician, Roper is on the faculty of the School of Public Health’s department of health policy and administration and the UNC School of Medicine’s department of pediatrics.

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Audrey De Nazelle, a student in the UNC School of Public Health’s department of environmental sciences and engineering master’s degree program, has received this year’s Center for Transportation and Environment Student of the Year Award for her work in the areas of transportation research and education.

The award is given by the Research and Special Programs Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

De Nazelle’s research is on transportation and air quality planning. The primary focus of her research is to better understand the mode of transportation individuals use for trips of less than three miles. She will further examine the influence of an individual’s awareness of the consequences for their travel behavior and also the effects of financial incentives to encourage travel by bike, foot or transit.

Originally from Paris, France, De Nazelle has lived in Chapel Hill for four years. After graduating from the master’s degree program in May, she plans to enroll in the School of Public Health’s doctoral program in environmental sciences and engineering.

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Dr. Daniel Okun, professor emeritus of environmental sciences and engineering in the UNC School of Public Health, has been recognized by his alma mater, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, as the 2002 recipient of its Gano Dunn Award.

Established in 1955, the Gano Dunn Award is named for a former Cooper Union president and trustee and presented annually to an outstanding alumnus or alumna for professional achievement in science and engineering.

Okun, who graduated from the Cooper Union in 1937, served as chairman of the UNC School of Public Health’s department of environmental sciences and engineering from 1955 to 1973 and has remained active in the department. Okun also is one of the few engineers in the nation to be named to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. Okun has won numerous other awards and is internationally known for his contributions to the fields of environmental engineering and sanitary engineering.

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Dr. Hugh Tilson, senior adviser to the dean of the UNC School of Public Health and clinical professor of epidemiology and health policy in the school, has been named a national associate of the National Academies, which advise the nation on science, technology and health issues.

Tilson’s appointment as a national associate recognizes his past work and service in epidemiology and health practice. He served as health officer and director of the Division of Health Services and the Department of Human Services in Oregon in the late 1970s and later as state health officer and director of the Division of Health Services for North Carolina. He also has worked in the pharmaceutical industry with Burroughs Wellcome, Glaxo Wellcome and, most recently, GlaxoSmithKline.

The National Academy of Sciences was the first academy formed in 1863 by the U.S. Congress. It was created with the purpose of aiding the government in scientific and technical matters. Others making up the National Academies include the National Academy of Engineering, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.

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The Durham-Orange County Medical Society recently honored a physician and a medical student at UNC for their community service.

Dr. Timothy S. Carey and Abraham Nussbaum, a second-year student in the School of Medicine, both received the society’s 2001 Community Service Award in a ceremony held in February.

Carey, who is director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and a professor of internal medicine in the School of Medicine, was honored for his volunteer work in a free medical clinic for the homeless. He was nominated for the award by Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council in Carrboro, which operates the clinic.

Nussbaum is a co-coordinator for UNC’s Student Health Action Coalition, or SHAC, which operates a weekly free medical clinic, a free dental clinic, a Habitat for Humanity building project and a home health and education program called Mobile SHAC. SHAC has operated in the Chapel Hill area for more than 30 years and is the oldest student-run medical clinic in the United States.

He was nominated by Dr. Adam Goldstein, an associate professor in UNC’s department of family medicine.

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School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz at (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu
News Services contact: Deb Saine at (919) 962-8415