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“Striking the Balance: Patient Care, Activism, and Public Service in the Health Professions.”

Pic - Nicole LurieThe UNC Center for Health Equity Research is pleased to announce that Dr. Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH, will be delivering this year’s Merrimon Lecture on September 20th from 12:00 – 1:30pm in G100 in Bondurant Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Co-sponsors for this event are: UNC Center for Bioethics, the School of Medicine Merrimon Lectureship, and the Department of Social Medicine.

Dr. Lurie is the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The ASPR serves as the Secretary’s principal advisor on matters related to public health emergencies including bioterrorism. The mission of her office is to lead the nation in preventing, responding to and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters. As such, she coordinates interagency activities between HHS, other federal agencies, and state and local officials responsible for emergency preparedness and the protection of the civilian population from public health emergencies.

Previously, Dr. Lurie was Senior Natural Scientist and the Paul O’Neill Alcoa Professor of Health Policy at the RAND Corporation where she directed RAND’s public health and preparedness work as well as its Center for Population Health and Health Disparities. She has previously served in leadership positions in both federal and state government. She is an internationally renowned health services researcher and health policy expert.

Dr. Lurie attended college and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed her residency and MSPH at UCLA, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. She served as Senior Editor for Health Services Research and as President of the Society of General Internal Medicine, as well as on numerous other national committees. She is the recipient of many awards, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Finally, Dr. Lurie continues to practice clinical medicine in the health care safety net in Washington, DC.

Merrimon Lecture