Faculty and Staff
Edward Baker
Dr. Edward Baker currently serves as Director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, the outreach and service unit of the University of the North Carolina School of Public Health. He also holds the position of Research Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration.
Prior to taking these positions in May 2003, he served as Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service and Director of CDC's Public Heath Practice Program Office since 1990. In that role, he led national initiatives to strengthen the public health infrastructure by improving workforce competency, enhancing information systems, improving access to practice-relevant knowledge, assuring organizational capacity, and supporting extramural prevention research. Initiatives developed or enhanced under his leadership include the Public Health Leadership Institutes, the Information Network for Public Health Officials, the Public Health Training Network, the Sustainable Management Development Program, the Health Alert Network, the National Public Health Performance Standards Program, the National Laboratory Training Network, the National Laboratory System, and the Management Academy for Public Health. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and on the faculty of Harvard School of Public Health's Occupational Health Program.
Dr. Baker trained in medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, in public health and occupational health at Harvard, and in preventive medicine and epidemiology (through the Epidemic Intelligence Service) at CDC. He has received numerous awards and published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He and his wife Pam have three outstanding children, Justin, Ryan, and Lindsay.