Fellow Alumni,

We are honored to assume the role of your alumni representatives from our dedicated predecessors, Vani Vannappagari and Sumitra Shantakumar. We will be the contact and communication point among graduates of the Epidemiology Department, the UNC-SPH Alumni Association and the Department of Epidemiology. We are hoping to foster new and strengthened ties between local alumni as well as continue to work on the various established alumni activities. We will be serving on the SPH Alumni Association’s Career Development Committee and are eager to hear your suggestions on any project that interests you.

Soon, we will be in the selection process for awarding the 2015 H.A. Tyroler Distinguished Alumni award to one of our fellow alumni who has had a substantial impact on the field of epidemiology. The selection committee always has a great set of nominated candidates, a tribute to the lasting influence of UNC’s Epidemiology Department on the field of epidemiology and public health. The 2014 award will be presented during the department’s annual seminar series on Wednesday, October 1st, and we hope you will be able to join us. Each year, the Alumni Association sponsors the Kaplan Student Publication Award for the best student publication of the year, to be awarded at the Tyroler lecture. While this is never an easy choice for the selection committee, it is a great pleasure to be able to see the enormous range of excellent publications coming from students in our department.

There are two notable School-wide updates. First, the Gillings School of Global Public Health is gearing up for its 75th anniversary celebration throughout 2015. The Alumni Association’s governing board is working with the School’s Public Health Foundation to increase alumni awareness and engagement in these anniversary activities. There will be more communication on these efforts in the near future. Secondly, a reminder…you can now connect with fellow colleagues and long ago distant friends as well as update your own contact information via the SPH Alumni Online database (www.alumniconnections.com/sph.unc.edu). We hope that by using this resource, and keeping it up to date, current students and Epi alumni will both benefit.

In closing, please let us know what issues and concerns are important to you. We feel very privileged to be able to represent you and certainly welcome feedback from you as we begin our time in office.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Hodgson (MSPH, 2000; PhD, 2009)
m.elizabeth.hodgson@gmail.com

Thao Vo (MSPH 2002; PhD, 2007)
thao.8.vo@gsk.com