About

Dr. Marie Lina Excellent (She/Her/Hers/Elle/Ella) is a physician by training who earned her Master of Public Health in May 2016 from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health at Chapel Hill thanks to a dual scholarship from Fulbright and UNC. Throughout her career, Dr. Excellent thrived and inspired others through her commitment to improving HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment and is a champion in continuous quality improvement (CQI).

During her over a decade of experience, Dr. Excellent helped Haitian National AIDS Control Program with the development and updates of policies and tools related to HIV/AIDS. She co-authored two HIV/AIDS published articles and presented several posters on HIV/AIDS interventions and CQI at national and international conferences (IHI; BMJ; AIDS 2018, AIDS 2020 & AIDS 2022; ICASA-2019 & 2021; IAS-2021 & IAS 2023; USAID 2021 Annual Meeting; APHA 2022; APHA 2024; IAS-2023). She served as a mentor for the International AIDS Society (IAS). Dr. Excellent is passionate about teaching, global health, leadership, community engagement, and implementation science. Dr. Excellent’s philosophy is “Know to better serve others in need through teamwork!” Dr. Excellent serves as an instructor for the following courses: Critical Issues in Global Health (PUBH711); HIV/AIDS Online Course (PUBH 725); Leading Quality Improvement in Public Health (PUBH 730).

In 2016, Dr. Excellent conducted the evaluation of the reaccreditation of North Carolina Local Health Departments for improvement in collaboration with the North Carolina Institute of Public Health (NCIPH). My research areas include: HIV/AIDS; Mental Health; Leadership Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and Community engagement. I will be presenting orally at APHA 2025 Conference about one of community-academic project on Mental Health titled: “Analyzing the influence of cultural nuances and contextual factors on mental health and well-being perceptions among residents aged 18-34 years in Dare County, NC”. I have two publications in 2025 so far about Leadership: McHale A, Excellent ML, Fleming WO and Upshaw VM (2025). Shaping future leaders: developing an MPH leadership curriculum through problem-based learning. Front. Public Health 13:1612610. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1612610 | Excellent, M. L., Yu, M., Hartranft, A., Fleming, W. O., Ahsan, K. Z., Schenck, A. P., & Ramaswamy, R. (2025). Advancing Pedagogy in Leadership Practice to Enhance Public Health Impact. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 31:515–26. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000002123.

Dr. Excellent is passionate about teaching, equity, global health, leadership, community engagement, and implementation science. Dr. Excellent currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice (PHLP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her philosophy is “Know to better serve others in need through teamwork!” Dr Excellent currently serves on the UNC Gillings Faculty Advisory Council, the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) Advisory Board and the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) Advisory Board. Roster Tenure with Fulbright Specialist Program since April 2025. Dr. Excellent has been appointed as a COIL Faculty Fellow and she has been awarded the 2025 RREAF Grant to conduct a community-academic partnership project with Dare County, NC DHHS and Manteo Youth Center to promote screen-free activities for better family bonding time.