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Our Mission

The mission of the Department of Health Sciences is to improve the health and wellbeing of all people of North Carolina, the nation, and globally through exemplary and culturally sensitive teaching, innovative research, and person-centered care.

  • Exemplary Teaching: To produce a diverse, interprofessional, and culturally competent workforce of health care practitioners, educators, researchers, and health care leaders.
  • Innovative Research: To conduct research aimed at generating new knowledge that advances the practices and policies of health care.
  • Person-Centered Care: To advance the science and practice of person-centered care with a focus on patient outcomes, families, communities, integrative health care, health promotion/disease prevention, and the improvement of overall quality of life.

Throughout our teaching, research, and clinical care, we are committed to engagement with diverse student, faculty, and patient/client populations and to creating an inclusive and equitable environment in which to work and learn.

Our History

Our Organization

Health Sciences is a department in the UNC School of Medicine, part of the Health Affairs division at UNC-Chapel Hill. The chair of the Department of Health Sciences also serves as an associate dean of the medical school. Each division has a division director with administrative responsibility for all aspects of that division’s operation. In addition to the chair/associate dean, the department’s administration includes an associate chair for research, associate chair for student services, development director, and assistant chair for finance and administration.

Inductees into the UNC School of Medicine Academy of Educators

Division of Physical Therapy
  • Lisa Johnston, PT, PhD (2018)
Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences
  • Cara McComish, PhD, CCC-SLP (2017)
  • Elizabeth Crais, PhD, CCC-SLP (2018)
  • Hannah Siburt, AuD, PhD (2020)
Physician Assistant Studies
  • Katie Hanlon, PA-C (2019)
  • Jason Hrdina, PA-C (2020)
Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
  • Nancy Bagatell, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA (2019)
  • Linn Wakeford, PhD, OTR/L (2019)
  • Jennifer Womack, PhD (2020)