News Briefs

The N.C. Institute for Public Health, part of UNC’s School of Public Health, recently announced four public health incubators, which will help create programs and models that health departments statewide can use as resources.

The partnerships and county health departments involved in each are:

· The Northeastern North Carolina Partnership for Public Health, made up of Bertie, Beaufort, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Edgecombe, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Warren and Washington counties.

· The South Central Incubator, made up of Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties.

· The Western Incubator, made up of Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey counties.

· The Northwest Incubator, made up of Alleghany, Ashe, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties.

Altogether, about half of North Carolina’s counties will be served in the initial incubator program.

The N.C. General Assembly has earmarked $1.125 million for development of the public health incubator program and assigned administration to the N.C. Institute for Public Health.

These incubators will be voluntary, flexible partnerships among local health districts and an extended set of public health stakeholders to enhance and, in some cases, establish essential public health services.

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A team from the National Public Health Leadership Institute, part of the UNC School of Public Health’s N.C. Institute for Public Health, has received this year’s Balderson Leadership Award.

The award recognizes the best public health leadership project as determined by the directors of the 20 public health leadership institutes nationwide.

Team Oregon, the group that won the award, addressed the issue of access to health care among the Hispanic population in Oregon.

Barry Kast, director of the Oregon Department of Human Services; Marie Dahlstrom, director of the SMG Community Foundation; John Lee, board member and former chief executive officer of Providence Health Systems; and Lillian Shirley, director of the Multnomah County-Portland (Ore.) Health Department, made up the team that participated in the one-year leadership institute.

The National Public Health Leadership Institute includes UNC faculty from the School of Public Health, Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Center for Creative Leadership.

Since 1991, the National Public Health Leadership Institute has offered leadership training to senior public health professionals. Its mission is to strengthen the collaborative action network of skilled public health leaders. More than 600 public health leaders have graduated from the program.

The Balderson Award is presented by the National Public Health Leadership Development Network, a membership organization of all the state, regional and national public health leadership institutes.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu