UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Donald Fejfar

Don Fejfar is a junior and Morehead-Cain Scholar majoring in biostatistics within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. He studies how disease relates to food and water quality, security, and accessibility on Isabela Island in Galápagos, Ecuador.

The Known Unknowns

In 2016, a group of North Carolina researchers published evidence of high rates of PFAS in the Cape Fear River basin. While this unregulated family of chemicals is used in the production of everyday goods, its impact on human health is largely unknown. For the past year, scientists from UNC-Chapel Hill, five other UNC system universities, and Duke University, have researched these potentially dangerous chemicals found in drinking water sources across the state.

A Father for Social Science

The Odum Institute, the first social science research center in the world, has trained and supported hundreds of researchers specializing in everything from anthropology to city and regional planning to public health for the past 95 years. And it all exists thanks to the determination of one eccentric man.

Beyond City Limits

Why do some neighborhoods lack access to municipal services? And how does this affect families? UNC public health researchers delve into this topic by testing well water in Wake County communities located on the outskirts of cities.

Wizdom Powell

Wizdom Powell is a health behavior professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, as well as a trained population health disparities research scientist and clinical psychologist. Her research focuses on addressing the social determinants of health inequities among boys and men of color.

Meaghan Nazareth

Rising senior Meaghan Nazareth is a biostatistics major and chemistry minor within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She conducts research with the UNC STARx Program, which seeks to understand self-management and transition from pediatric to adult-focused health care.

Laura Villa-Torres

Laura Villa-Torres is a PhD student studying health behavior in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on how immigrant communities keep their resilience and sustainable community-based interventions that improve their health and lives.

Kemi Doll

Kemi Doll is a clinical instructor in the UNC OB-GYN Division of Gynecologic Oncology and a Cancer Care Quality Training Program Post-Doctoral Fellow at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. In 2015, she received a Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence.