Mary Rose Tully, left, accepts volunteer award

She accepted the awards on Sept. 28 at a ceremony at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Tully, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, has worked for many years with breastfeeding mothers and their infants.  She was commended for her work with local and national nonprofit organizations over the past 35 years, including Nursing Mothers of Raleigh, Human Milk Banking Association of North America (of which she is a founding member and former president), International Lactation Consultants Association (of which she is former chair) and the N.C. Breastfeeding Coalition.

Each year, the Office of the Governor seeks nominations of volunteers who contribute the most time and have the most impact in their communities. Wake County has honored its local volunteers with nominations since 1984.

"I am truly privileged to live in a state that values contributions to maternal and child health so highly," Tully says. "The work I have done through the years has usually been done with many others on a team or committee. What I have accomplished has been through collaboration with other dedicated volunteers and my very supportive family."

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School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.