Carolina First

UNC celebrates naming of Gillings School of Global Public Health

From UNC News Services

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has officially named its School of Public Health the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in recognition and appreciation of  a $50 million gift from Dennis and Joan Gillings.

The Gillingses pledged the gift, the largest single gift ever made to the University, in February 2007. The naming ceremony marks the initiation of several programs it supports. The University will use the gift to focus on ways to anticipate and accelerate solutions to the public health needs of this century. Dennis Gillings, Ph.D., spent 17 years as a biostatistics professor at UNC’s School of Public Health. Joan Gillings was formerly a staff member there. For the past 26 years, Gillings has built and led Quintiles Transnational Corp.

“Dennis and Joan Gillings understand the potential that we have to solve the great problems of our time,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp. “Their investment in Carolina and the School of Public Health will produce great results for North Carolina and the world.”

Adding the word “global” to the name will recognize the increasingly global nature and worldwide interdependence of health and well-being, said Barbara K. Rimer, dean of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

“We’re proud to be North Carolina’s School of Public Health, and we’re committed to improving the health of people throughout our state,” Rimer said. “Dennis and Joan Gillings’ generous gift will enable us to translate our commitment into even more concerted action. ‘Global’ in our name signifies the interconnections of local and global, public health and global health; they’re increasingly one and the same. Many public health threats, such as infectious diseases and pandemics, obesity and air pollution, honor no geography. Being global makes us no less local.”

Already, the Gillings’gift has funded 10 competitively-selected Gillings Innovation Labs and three Gillings Visiting Professorships. Details about these programs are available at www.sph.unc.edu

About Dennis Gillings:

Dr. Dennis Gillings began providing statistical consulting and data management services to pharmaceutical clients in 1974 during his tenure as professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Quintiles arose from his consulting activities and was incorporated in 1982 with 10 employees. Today he serves on several boards and councils, including the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s advisory council, which he chairs, and its acceleration advisory committee. With nearly 30 years’ experience in drug development applications and theory, Gillings has provided expert consultation to numerous companies and health organizations. He was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2004 for services to the pharmaceutical industry.

About Joan Gillings:

Joan Gillings has had careers in public health, including at the UNC School of Public Health, and in commercial real estate. A native of Philadelphia and raised in Michigan, she sits on several boards of universities both in the United States and abroad. She is chair of the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and is a member of Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health’s acceleration advisory committee. She chairs the Development Trust Board of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Mrs. Gillings also is recognized for her leadership in a number of volunteer organizations, including the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History, Wilmington’s Opera House Theatre Company and the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

For more information: www.sph.unc.edu

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu
News Services contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8598, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

September 26, 2008