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A selected timeline of our School's work in overturning health disparities
1930s1936
Dr. Milton Rosenau
becomes director of the
new Division of Public
Health at the UNC School
of Medicine, intent upon
developing the practical
aspects of public health
and addressing the health
needs of all people.
 First Health Education class at N.C. College for Negroes
1940
The Division of Public
Health separates from the
UNC School of Medicine
and becomes the UNC
School of Public Health,
with Rosenau as dean.
1942
Dean Rosenau invites Yaleeducated
Dr. Lucy Morgan
to teach and develop a
curriculum in public health
education at the UNC
School of Public Health.
Twenty-five students enroll
in spring 1943.
1945
Morgan designs and teaches a collaborative public health
education program -- led by UNC faculty -- at the North
Carolina College for Negroes (later N.C. Central University),
UNC and in her own home. Her ground-breaking (and
rules-breaking) training for public health workers becomes
a national model for effective health care delivery and
public health education. Her efforts may have been the
first, if unsanctioned, instances of integration in the
classroom at UNC.
1950s1950
Eleanor Roosevelt speaks
to a public health education
class on the UNC
campus at the invitation
of Dr. Lucy Morgan.
1955
The School's Department of Health
Education contracts with the U.S.
Public Health Service to create a
health education training program
focused on the needs of American
Indians.
1959
Dr. John Cassel, a South
African expatriate who left
his country because of its
apartheid policies, becomes
the first chair of the
School's new Department
of Epidemiology.
1960s
Throughout this decade, School faculty and students
are involved in sit-ins and marches advocating
desegregation and civil rights. African-American
and international students grow in number, and
their presence serves as a catalyst for change. 1960-62
UNC Epidemiology Professor Dr. Sidney Kark (a South
African expatriate whose research includes studies of
syphilis in African populations) and UNC Epidemiology
Professor Dr. John Cassel launch the Evans County
(Georgia) Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular
Epidemiologic Study to find out why Black male sharecroppers
have lower rates of heart attacks than middleclass
white males in that county. The study is the first to
confirm the importance of physical activity in promoting
cardiovascular health and was, for some time, the only
cardiovascular disease cohort study with a substantial
enrollment of Black participants.
1962
Edward V. Ellis becomes
the first African-American
to receive a doctorate
from the UNC School of
Public Health and the UNC
Graduate School. He earned
his degree in health education
and later became a
professor in the Department
of Human Development
at Pennsylvania State
University.
1968
South African native Dr. Guy Steuart joins the UNC School of
Public Health as chair of the Department of Health Education
(later called the Department of Health Behavior and Health
Education). In his work with colleagues in South Africa,
Steuart developed the Action-Oriented Community Diagnosis
methodology, which uses an interdisciplinary approach to
gain a nuanced understanding of the dynamics, resources
and problems of communities and how they affect the living
conditions and health of individuals who live in them. This
methodology is now taught at the UNC School of Public
Health and is often used in working with poor or vulnerable
communities.
1970s
This decade is characterized by an exponential
increase in the number of minority faculty and
students at the School. Two departments are
chaired by minorities.
1971
After Black students express
concern, Dr. Fred Mayes, the
School's third dean, appoints
William T. "Bill" Small to the
position of coordinator of
minority affairs at the School
with a charge to increase the
School's minority student enrollment.
Within the next year, the
number of minority students
increases from 20 to 49.
1971
The Black Student
Caucus of the UNC
School of Public Health
is organized.
1971-86
Dr. Sagar Jain, born in India
and educated in the United
States, becomes chair of
the Department of Health
Administration (later to
become the Department
of Health Policy and
Administration).
1971-1982
Dr. Bernard Greenberg, founder and chair of the
Department of Biostatistics from 1949-72, becomes
dean. To increase minority enrollment, as much as
half the scholarship assistance offered during some
years of his tenure is reserved for minority students.
Greenberg also encouraged the School's departmental
chairs to actively recruit minority faculty, an endorsement
that resulted in significant increases in African-
American faculty at the School.
1974
John W. Hatch, an African-American, receives his Doctor of Public
Health from UNC and joins the faculty of the School's Department
of Health Behavior and Health Education. He later becomes Kenan
Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education. His work and the
department's emphasis on community organizing results in projects
aimed at improving the health of minorities.
1975-86
Dr. Joseph Edozien,
of Nigeria, serves
as chair of the
Department of
Nutrition.
1976
The Black Caucus becomes the School's Minority Caucus.
1977
The School's Minority
Student Caucus organizes
the first annual Minority
Health Conference. The conference
has been held every
year since then, with the
exception of 1989 and 1990.
1980s
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services releases its task force
report on Black and minority health. The School gets federal research
funding to study critical minority health issues, including:
- A continuation of the Evans County study on cardiovascular health and
exercise
- A study of blood pressure among Blacks in Edgecombe County
- Smoking cessation research, conducted in collaboration between School
faculty and the Black-owned N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Co.
- A Minority Cancer Control Research Program, which includes the New
Hanover Breast Cancer Screening Program (forerunner of the N.C. Breast
Cancer Screening Program, directed by Dr. Jo Anne Earp from 1992 to
2002) and studies of fiber intake by Blacks.
1990s1991
Victor J. Schoenbach, a 1979 Department
of Epidemiology graduate and faculty
member, works with William T. Small,
Jr., to restart the Annual Minority Health
Conference after a two-year hiatus. He
is later made principal investigator of the
School's Minority Health Project, continuing
the Project's Annual Videoconference
and initiating broadcasts from the Annual
Minority Health Conference.
1994
The School's Minority Health Project is started.
1994
The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
and the UNC Kenan-Flagler
School of Business together
obtain funding for the Emerging
Leaders in Public Health program,
which identifies minority
public health leaders and helps
them develop ways to manage
resources and communicate
effectively about health crises
within their communities.
1997
With funding from
GlaxoSmithKline,
federal agencies and
others, Dean William
Roper launches
The Program on
Ethnicity, Culture
and Health
Outcomes (ECHO)
(see www.echo.unc.edu).
1997
Dr. Paul Godley, adjunct
associate professor
of epidemiology and
biostatistics at the School,
and Dr. Daniel Howard of
Shaw University, receive
a five-year National
Institutes of Health grant
to create the Carolina-
Shaw Partnership for the
Elimination of Health
Disparities.
2000 and beyond2005
Dr. Barbara K. Rimer is
named dean and makes
overcoming health disparities
a primary goal in her
leadership of the School.
2006
Dean Rimer appoints Dr.
Jessie Satia, assistant
professor of epidemiology
and nutrition, as special
assistant to the dean for
diversity, with a focus on
increasing the number of
diverse faculty members.
School's mission statement
is revised to include focus
on health disparities.
2006
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
is selected as one of only
12 schools to participate
in the Engaged Institutions
Initiative, funded by the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation. The
initiative supports the sustained
efforts of institutions
of higher education working
in partnership with communities
to eliminate racial and
ethnic health disparities.
2006
The Department of
Maternal and Child
Health receives a federal
grant enabling the
launch of a new doctoral
training program in
applied epidemiology
aimed at addressing
health inequities.
The School's Collaborative
Studies Coordinating Center
receives $22 million federal
contract to coordinate a nationwide
health study of Hispanics
in the United States. The
Hispanic Community Health
Study will examine the impact
of acculturation -- adapting to
life in a new environment and
culture--on the health of the
U.S. Hispanic population.
-- Timeline compiled by Linda Kastleman
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Carolina Public Health is a publication of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. To subscribe to Carolina Public Health or to view the entire Fall 2007 issue in PDF, visit www.sph.unc.edu/cph.
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