The Inaugural Graduates

The first cohort of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s master of public health (M.P.H.) program in Asheville was awarded degrees in spring 2020 after two years of leadership, hard work and unprecedented learning environments. 

“This group of intelligent, collaborative and engaged individuals demonstrated incredible resilience as we built the program with their input and weathered enormous challenges over the last two years,” said Amy Lanou, PhD, program co-director. “We are thrilled to watch them deepen or begin their work in public health in Western North Carolina.”

The Gillings School’s partnership with MAHEC and UNC Asheville connects M.P.H. students in Asheville with regional health systems and local teaching expertise, arming them with context-specific knowledge so they can take a values-based approach to public health issues in the area.

“A place-based focus is at the heart of the M.P.H. in Asheville program,” said 2020 graduate Amy Moore, M.P.H. “The program taught me to value the community’s voice as central to public health work. Themes of equity and social justice were present throughout, providing language and skills for understanding and addressing these key public health priorities of our time.”

Read the complete Carolina Story…

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