Four faculty members at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been awarded the inaugural Joan Heckler Gillings Endowed Professorship. These professorships are funded through an estate gift from the late Joan Heckler Gillings.
Born in Philadelphia, the daughter of a clothing model and the president of Whitman Chocolate Co., Gillings, née Heckler, was reared in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She moved to Chapel Hill in the early 1970s with her two young sons and joined the staff of the UNC department of biostatistics in 1974. Later, Gillings obtained a real estate license. She brokered residential and commercial properties in Chapel Hill and around the world. In 2007, she and her former husband donated $50 million to the School of Public Health. Gillings died on February 18, 2021.
Three of the four scholars who have been appointed to Joan Heckler Gillings Endowed Professorships are women.
Jess Edwards is an associate professor in the department of epidemiology. Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on developing and refining quantitative methods to inform public health decisions on infectious diseases when using imperfect data sources, particularly those prone to missing information or measurement error. Dr. Edwards joined the faculty in 2015. She is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she majored in international affairs. Professor Edwards holds a master of public degree and a PH.D. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Leah Frerichs is an associate professor in the department of health policy and management. Dr. Frerichs’s research integrates systems science, community collaboration, and innovative approaches to improve public health outcomes, particularly in underserved communities. Dr. Frerichs joined the faculty at the university in 2016. She is a graduate of Iowa State University, where she majored in community health education. She holds a master’s degree in community and behavioral health from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in health promotion and disease prevention from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Anna Kahkoska teaches in the department of nutrition. She is also the assistant director of the Precision Health and AI Research Lab in the School of Global Public Health. Dr. Kahkoska’s research focuses on identifying new strategies to leverage nutrition alongside other aspects of diabetes self-care to improve the health and wellness of people who live with diabetes. She serves on the editorial board of the journal Diabetes Care. Dr. Kahkoska is a graduate of Syracuse University in New York, where she majored in biochemistry with a minor in anthropology. She earned a medical degree and a Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.