Message from the Special Assistant to the Dean for Diversity

Undoubtedly, the socioeconomic, cultural, racial and ethnic diversity of our communities has a strong impact on health and well-being. All regions of the United States, including North Carolina, are becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse; this diversity is often accompanied by appreciable disparities in health and disease. Socioeconomic and cultural diversity enriches the quality of research, teaching, and practice by expanding ideas, approaches, and perspectives. Therefore, to adequately tackle the considerable challenges associated with addressing and ultimately eliminating health disparities and adequately serving our communities, it is vital that Schools of Public Health faculty, students, and staff be diverse and culturally competent.  For these reasons, among others, the UNC School of Public Health is committed to becoming more diverse in terms of students, faculty, and staff. As stated by Dean Rimer “Becoming more diverse will help us become even better teachers, researchers and practitioners as we seek to overcome health-related disparities.” With the idea that “when diversity is everyone's business, sadly, it often is nobody's job”, Dean Rimer named me as Special Assistant to the Dean for Diversity in January 2006. Since that time, I have undertaken several activities aimed at accomplishing my mandate, ranging from drafting a strategic plan that identifies specific goals, strategies, and measurable criteria for creating a more diverse environment at the School, meeting and working with under-represented minority faculty candidates and recruits in hopes of making their transition to UNC as seamless as possible, to holding meetings with the School’s Department Chairs to discuss minority faculty and student recruitment and retention, and inviting a diversity consultant to work with the School’s leadership on issues related to diversity.  Details of these and other initiatives are available upon request. In my academic capacity, I am Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the School of Public Health and member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. I received my PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology and Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Washington in Seattle. My research is focused on the study of racial/ethnic disparities in colorectal and prostate cancer etiology and survival, with an emphasis on the contribution of diet, supplement use, and other lifestyle factors. I am currently assisted by Ms. Willona Stallings, Masters of Public Health student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health.  Willona brings a strong interest in diversity initiatives and several years of experience in data management and program coordination, including serving as a Public Health Program Consultant for the North Carolina Sickle Cell Syndrome Program and Data Manager for the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System at the State Center for Health Statistics in Raleigh, NC.  Willona received her Bachelor of Arts degree from UNC in 2000, where she majored in psychology with a focus in health psychology.  We welcome your thoughts, ideas, questions, and suggestions.  Please contact us at sphdiversity@unc.edu or call (919) 966-7234.  Sincerely, Jessie A. Satia, PhD, MPH Special Assistant to the Dean for Diversity Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition School of Public Health The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Last updated October 07, 2007