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Center for Bioethics

The UNC Center for Bioethics provides an interdisciplinary hub for UNC faculty, health professionals and students interested in the ethical challenges facing biomedical research and health care.  The Center’s core faculty, lead collaborative research projects of local, national and international scope, provide ethics consultation services to UNC researchers and clinicians and teach with the Department of Social Medicine in the medical school curriculum.  The Center hosts the School of Medicine’s oldest endowed lecture series, the annual UNC Merrimon Lecture, and serves as the administrative hub for the state-wide Clinical Ethics Network of North Carolina.

Center for Health Equity Research (CHER)

The UNC Center for Health Equity Research (CHER), co-directed by Giselle Corbie and Gaurav Dave, brings together collaborative, multidisciplinary teams of stakeholders to improve health in North Carolina communities with a shared commitment to innovation, collaboration, and health equity. This shared commitment serves as a bridge across disciplines and experience levels. CHER generates new knowledge and contributes to the science of health equity research and implementations, driving innovation in collaboration with communities to improve well-being. CHER is excited to be celebrating 10 years of rooting research in innovation, collaboration, and equity.

UNC Center for Genomics and Society

The UNC Center for Genomics and Society, is an NHGRI-funded interdisciplinary research center, housed within the Carolina Center for Genome Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. Six of 18 investigators, including the Director, Gail Henderson, are faculty in Social Medicine, which also provides space for post-doctoral students, trainees, and research assistants. The Center for Genomics and Society is funded to conduct an integrated set of research, policy, and education projects to explore ethical, legal, and social implications of large scale genomic research. Selected projects include participant and investigator views of genetic registries and “biobanks,” attitudes toward pharmacogenetic testing in the clinic, and ethical issues raised by expanded newborn screening.

Clinical Scholars

The UNC Department of Social Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Health co-lead Clinical Scholars with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Clinical Scholars is a national leadership program for experienced health care providers. Working in teams from diverse disciplines, they receive funding for projects addressing complex health problems, and extend their influence and impact as both professionals and trusted members of communities. Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith co-directs the program with Dr. Claudia Fernandez in the Department of Maternal and Child Health.