Sheps Postdoctoral Fellow Highlights Gap in Integrated Diabetes Care

Jeanna Campbell, PhD, MSW is a second year National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow in Primary Care Research and the first trained social worker to earn the fellowship with the Cecil G. Sheps Center. She developed an interest in social work and primary care from her experiences living in poverty with diabetes. Her team’s research,… Read more »

Gordon DeFriese Receives UNC Lifetime Achievement Award

  Gordon H. DeFriese, PhD, longtime former director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, has received the 2026 Jonathan B. Howes Lifetime Achievement Award from UNC–Chapel Hill’s Retired Faculty and Professionals Association (RFPA). The award recognizes retired UNC faculty whose careers have demonstrated exceptional service, leadership, and contributions within the University… Read more »

Dr. Bianca Allison Quoted on NPR on Historic Decline in Teen Birth Rates

Bianca Allison, MD, MPH, a researcher with the Child & Adolescent Health Services Program at the Sheps Center and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, was recently quoted in an NPR story examining new federal data showing that U.S. teen birth rates reached another historic low in 2025. The NPR article, which draws on newly released data… Read more »

When Youth with ADHD Have Questions—but Don’t Ask

A team of UNC researchers recently published a new study examining how often youth with attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ask their health care providers the questions they have about their condition. The article, “How Often Do Youth Ask Their Providers the Questions They Checked on an Attention‑Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Question Prompt List?”, appeared in the Journal… Read more »

Sheps Center Expert Weighs In on Use of AI to Address Rural Health Challenges

As federal health leaders promote artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies as a way to stabilize struggling rural hospitals, rural health experts emphasize that technology alone cannot overcome long‑standing financial and workforce challenges. A recent Washington Post article examines proposals from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and… Read more »

UNC Sheps Center Releases New Report Providing Critical Data to Identify Gaps in North Carolina’s Mental Health and Substance Use Services Workforce

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 2, 2026 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research has released the first comprehensive look at North Carolina’s mental health and substance use services workforce, offering critical data to guide statewide policy and planning. Commissioned by the NC Department of Health and Human… Read more »

Bianca Allison Receives 2026–2027 Junior Faculty Development Award

The Sheps Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Bianca Allison, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and researcher with the Child & Adolescent Health Services Program at Sheps, has been selected as a recipient of the 2026–2027 Junior Faculty Development Award. The annual awards, funded by IBM and… Read more »

Betsy Sleath Awarded 30th Annual George L. Engel Award

At the Academy of Communication in Healthcare’s (ACH) 2025 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH), #UNCPharmacy Regional Associate Dean Betsy Sleath was awarded the 30th Annual George L. Engel Award! This award recognizes Betsy’s outstanding research contributing to the theory, practice and teaching of effective healthcare communication and related skills. Betsy is a long-time… Read more »

Bianca Allison selected for Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship

Congratulations to Bianca Allison, MD, MPH on being a recipient of the 2025-26 Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship in Academic Medicine! Dr. Allison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and also a researcher with the Child and Adolescent Health Services Program at the Sheps Center. The Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship in Academic Medicine is amongst the most… Read more »

Jeanna Campbell Honored with 2025 PARE Award

Jeanna Campbell, PhD, a postdoctoral trainee with the HRSA-funded NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, has been named one of the 2025 recipients of the Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence (PARE) at UNC. The PARE awards, presented annually by UNC Research, recognize outstanding postdoctoral scholars who… Read more »

Healthy Food First Trial Provides Clinical Evidence on how Different Food Delivery Models Can Reduce Food Insecurity and Improve Health Outcomes

The Sheps Center is proud to announce that results from the Healthy Food First trial were recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine (October 2025). This study, funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and conducted in collaboration with UNC Health and UNC’s Schools of Medicine and Public Health, provides clinical evidence on… Read more »

Sasha Zabelski accepted to prestigious AcademyHealth Program

Dr. Sasha Zabelski, a Program Manager with the Behavior Health Services Research Program at Sheps, has been accepted to the AcademyHealth Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research Program. The Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research Program (supported by the Doris Duke Foundation) will train health services researchers on best practices for policy communication… Read more »