Alumni

Alumnus Madkour wins APHA award for research about intimate partner suicide in N.C.

Dr. Aubrey Madkour

Madkour, who graduated from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in 2009 with a doctorate in maternal and child health and minor in epidemiology, conducted the award-winning research while a student.  She received the award for her abstract, "Area disadvantage and intimate partner homicide: An ecological analysis of North Carolina counties, 2004-2005," at the APHA meeting in Philadelphia on November 10, 2009.

ESE Alumnus tapped by President Obama to lead EPA Region 6

Dr. Al Armendariz

Dr. Armendariz earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the UNC School of Public Health in 2002 and was a member of the Royster Society of Fellows, a program envisioned as the graduate level equivalent of the university's Morehead Scholars program for undergraduates.

Environmental Sciences and Engineering Associate Chair and Professor, David Leith, currently Director of Graduate Studies says, "Al Armendariz is smart, he works hard, and his heart is in the right place.  He was a fine student and I know he will do an excellent job in his new position at EPA.  We are proud of him."

Regional Administrators are responsible for managing the EPA's regional activities under the direction of the EPA Administrator. They serve as liaisons to state and local government officials to help promote state and local environmental protection efforts. Regional Administrators are tasked with ensuring EPA's efforts to address the environmental crises of today are rooted in three fundamental values: science-based policies and programs, adherence to the rule of law, and transparency.

"I look forward to working closely with Al Armendariz on the range of urgent environmental issues we face, in region 6 and across the nation," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.  "At this moment of great challenge and even greater opportunity, I'm thrilled that Al will be part of our leadership team at EPA.  He will certainly play an instrumental role in our Agency's mission to protect our health and the environment."  

Dr. Armendariz has received several outstanding faculty awards is an Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where he has taught environmental and civil engineering since 2002.  Armendariz received his S.B. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his M.E. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida.  After college, he worked as a research assistant at the MIT Center for Global Change Science at their Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory. He later joined Radian Corporation in North Carolina as a chemical engineer and also spent a summer on special assignment to EPA's Dallas office as an Environmental Scientist. For the past 15 years, Armendariz has worked in a variety of research and academic positions and has published several research papers.

Bazán, School alumna, honored at Meredith College event

Ms. Andrea Bazan

ˇLevantate! might be translated Rise up!

The event recognized Bazán for her efforts to ensure that all North Carolina residents - regardless of background or circumstances - have access to basic services, health care and higher education. A panel including Gov. Hunt, Center for New North Carolinians Director Nolo Martinez, Meredith College President Maureen A. Hartford, and Bazán, spoke about ways to strengthen North Carolina's Latino community and provide educational services for all of the state's citizens.[more]

Read more articles about the accomplishments of our alumni

Shelp heads new Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

UNC Study: Digging in beach sand increases risk of gastrointestinal illness

[More articles]

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Alumni News Briefs

What's new with you?  Please share with us professional/personal news/updates by contacting the Office of External Affairs.

• Amy Glenn Vega, BSPH '95, has authored a series of educational novellas for nurses, published by Pritchett and Hull Associates, Inc.  The books can be used as continuing education activities and may also be used as book club readings in health care organizations.  For more information and to preview the first five chapters of each book, visit www.NursingNovellas.com.
  
• May Baydoun, PhD '06, is a Staff Scientist at the National Institute on Aging, NIH/NIA/IRP.  She is currently working at the Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Biomedical Research Center, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Sandy Deming, PhD '05, is now an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 
• Deborah Valulick Dawson, PhD '81, Director of the Division of Biostatistics and Research Design at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, has been awarded the first Morris Bernstein Professorship in Dentistry.
• Patricia L. Bright, MSPH '93, PhD '03,  is a research associate in the Department of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
• Wichai Aekplakorn, PhD '01, is living in Bangkok, Thailand.  He is an associate professor at Ramathibodi Hospital's Community Medicine Center.
• Shannon B. Jackson,  BSPH '01, is a clinical dietitian supervisor at the Wilson Medical Center in Wilson, NC.
• Lisa M. Schweigler, MPH '03, is a resident in the University of Michigan Hospitals.
• Laura M. Sterling, MPH '03, is an assistant professor in Family and Community Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
• John Bates Hipps, MPH '03, is a pediatric resident at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
• Barrett Robinson,  MPH '03, is a clinical fellow in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology  at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, in Boston, MA.
• Sonali Kulkarni, PhD '04, is a resident at the University of California clinics in San Francisco.
• Georgeta D. Vaidean, PhD '04, is an assistant professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Tennessee at Memphis.
• Kristie McClamroch, PhD '04, is an assistant professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the State University of New York at Albany.
• William E. Humphries, III, MPH '05, is a resident at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.
• Mayra Alvarez, MHA '05, recently accepted the position of legislative assistant for health for the Senate Majority Whip, Senator Richard Durbin.  She previously worked in the office of Congresswoman Hilda Solis.
• Mishka Terplan, MPH '06, is an assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago.
• Mangombo Prime Mulembakani, MPH '06, is a research associate at the Kinshasa School of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Carla Wright Picardo, MPH '06, works as an ob-gyn doctor for Community Health Net and an instructor in ob-gyn and preventative medicine for the Family Medicine Residency Program at St. Vincent Health Center in Erie, PA.  She also conducts independent research in reproductive health.
• Rebecca Leigh Coelho, MPH '06, is a dietitian and health educator at the Intelligent Health Center, a private practice endocrinologist's office, in Atlanta, GA.  She plans to further her education by earning a CDE.
• Mary K. Wojczynski, PhD '06, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the Department of Biostatistics.
• James Connell Gear, DrPH '06, is a senior statistician at the Midwest Employers Casualty Company in Chesterfield, MO.
• Melissa A. Troester, MPH '06, is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health
• Lauren L. Murphey, MS '06, is a project manager for ifPeople in Atlanta, GA.

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In Memoriam

Doris McHan Hummer ('54 BSPHN PHNU) of Redmond, OR; March 3, 2008
James Arthur Hancock, Jr. ('51 MSPH PALP) of Rocky Mount, VA; February 23, 2008
Paul Doyle Van Zandt ('55 MSPH PALP; '60 PHD PALP) of Poland, OH; February 19, 2008
Randolph Wayland Shotwell ('66 MPH HPAA) of Virginia Beach, VA; February 6, 2008
Pamela Elaine Noel ('01 PHD MCH) of Iowa City, IA; February 2, 2008
Luz Divina Tirado ('46 MSPH HBHE) of Las Cruces, NM; January 31, 2008
Amedee Simeon Landry ('69 MSPH HPAA) of Los Lunas, NM; January 25, 2008
Katherine Gartland Kelley ('77 MPH PALP; '79 DRPH PALP) of Bloomfield, CT; December 29, 2007
Robert Nixon Taylor, Jr. ('76 MPH HPAA) of Front Royal, VA; December 29, 2007
Mary Ann Murphy ('70 MPH PHNU) of Eau Claire, WI; December 16, 2007
John Bernard Gascoyne ('75 MPH HPAA) of Appomattox, VA; December 10, 2007
R. C. Steele ('53 MSSE ENVR) of Arvada, CO; November 27, 2007
John Eugene Pipes ('50 MPH PALP) of Lynchburg, VA; November 19, 2007
Sally Ann Farrand ('63 MPH HPAA) of Chapel Hill, NC; November 14, 2007
Jeffrey Lee McMurtrie ('83 MSPH ENVR) of Salem, OR; November 5, 2007
Bettie Louise Nelson ('73 MSPH BIOS; '83 DRPH BIOS) of Richmond, VA; October 18, 2007
Willie Gordon Bunch ('47 MSPH HBHE) of Jacksonville, FL; October 14, 2007
Frances Roberta Pursley ('59 MPH PHNU) of Longview, TX; October 3, 2007
Lucius Lee Ardrey Moore, Jr. ('50 MSPH PALP; '65 PHD PALP) of Atlanta, GA; September 21, 2007
George Alfred Langston, Jr. ('51 MSPH ENVR) of Statesville, NC; September 13, 2007
Rebecca Broach Bryan ('52 MPH NUTR) of Atlanta, GA; September 13, 2007
Virginia Coker Phillips ('51 BSPHN PHNU; '58 MPH PHNU) of Florence, SC; August 20, 2007
Betty Bass Garrison ('85 MPH PHNU) of Charlotte, NC; August 18, 2007
Takao Lewis Sato ('82 MPH BIOS) of Rockville, MD; August 12, 2007
George Grundy Dudney ('62 MPH HPAA) of Gainesboro, TN; July 22, 2007
Elizabeth Elphabelle Mumm ('48 MPH HBHE) of Sun City, AZ; July 21, 2007
William Arthur Wright ('72 MSPH ENVR) of Phoenix, AZ; July 17, 2007
Joan H. Conway (' 71 MPH MHCH) of Pittsburgh, PA; July 8, 2007
Robert Leroy Scott ('62 MPH HBHE) of Monroe, NC; June 25, 2007
William Jerome McCord ('58 MSPH HBHE) of Columbia, SC; June 22, 2007
Billy Lee Ferguson ('55 MSPH PALP) of Greensboro, NC; June 7, 2007
Robert Charles Tice, Jr. ('63 MPH HPAA) of Nashville, TN; June 5, 2007
Della Sue Simonson ('77 MPH HPAA) of Butner, NC; May 21, 2007
Bret Conaway Williams ('88 MPH MHCH) of Efland, NC; May 14, 2007
Meredith Lee Cosby ('75 MPH HBHE) of Raleigh, NC; April 30, 2007
Christopher Glenn Reuther ('97 BSPH ENVR) of Apex, NC; April 26, 2007
Basil Wasyl Pshyk ('62 MPH HPAA) of Durham, NC; April 23, 2007
Haskell Solomon Tubiash ('47 MSPH PALP) of Yardley, PA; April 23, 2007
Jane Pfeifle ('76 MPH PHNU) of Silvis, IL; April 22, 2007
Annie Ray Moore ('47 MPH HBHE) of Greensboro, NC; April 9, 2007
William R. Walker ('64 MSSE ENVR) of Blacksburg, VA; March 21, 2007
M. A. Shepherd ('59 MPH HPAA) of Somerset, KY; March 7, 2007
Dorothy Fay Dunn ('46 MSPH HBHE) of Urbana, IL; March 6, 2007
Betty Brown Cain ('47 CPHN PHNU) of Sumter, SC; March 4, 2007
Mary E. Foster Webb ('46 MSPH HBHE) of Albemarle, NC; March 4, 2007
Kenneth William Haase ('68 MSPH BIOS) of Locust Grove, VA; February 17, 2007  
Frances Carlton Crutcher ('69 MPH PHNU) of Atlanta, GA; February 17, 2007
George McKibben Ineichen ('51 MSPH HBHE) of Rayville, LA; February 12, 2007
Millicent Knierim Stuntz ('80 MPH MHCH) of Salisbury, NC; Februrary 8, 2007
Doris Parker Hill ('48 CPHN PHNU) of Welcome, NC; February 6, 2007
James Austin McCullough ('40 MSPH ENVR) of Vienna, VA; January 31, 2007
James Ford Hughey, Sr. ('51 MSPH ENVR) of Gastonia, NC; January 21, 2007
Jessie Pittman Sisk ('73 MPH NUPH) of North Myrtle Beach, SC; January 20, 2007
Nettie Day Ellis ('48 MPH HBHE) of Raleigh, NC; January 8, 2007
William Carlton Byrd, Sr. ('58 MPH HBHE) of Greenville, NC; January 7, 2007
Robert Coleman Watson ('71 MPH HPAA) of Jeffersonville, GA; January 5, 2007
Marion Claude Riser, Jr. ('47 MPH HBHE) of Tallahassee, FL; January 2, 2007
Zeta Garland Ruegger ('54 CPHN PHNU) of Johnson City, TN; January 1, 2007
Catherine Sause Eastwood ('69 MPH PHNU) of Ponce Inlet, FL; December 15, 2006    
Daniel Martin Rosof ('69 MPH HPAA) of Franklin, TN; September 6, 2006
Hugh-Bert Ehrhard ('69 MPH PALP; '71 DRPH PALP) of Modesto, CA; August 23, 2006
Elizabeth Edna Allen ('67 MPH PHNU) of Omaha, NE; April 9, 2006
Ashfaque Hossain ('99 MPH MHCH) of Jamaica, NY; September 24, 2005
Robert K. Creighton, Jr. ('88 MPH HPAA) of Wilmington, NC; September 11, 2005
Kamal Butros Salameh ('78 MPH HPAA) of Roswell, GA; September 9, 2005
Samuel Kaufman ('47 MSPH PALP) of Palm Beach Gardens, FL; July 19, 2005
Gretchen Simmons Webster ('74 MPH PHNU) of Sioux Falls, SD; August 20, 2004
Rebecca James Baker ('04 PhD EPID) of Durham, NC; August 8, 2004
Elizabeth E. Neu ('66 MPH PALP) of Rochelle, IL; May 1, 2004
William Harrison Utt ('64 MPH HPAA) of Nashville, TN; August 20, 2003
Michael Joseph McMahon ('95 MPH EPID) of Chapel Hill, NC; August 12, 2003

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