Morrisville, NC (July 10, 2019) — Ronny A. Bell, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Public Health at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, has joined the staff of the North Carolina Medical Journal as a co-scientific editor.

Dr. Bell has a wealth of experience in epidemiology and disease prevention. He also brings to the role a robust knowledge of public health policy and relationships with community health stakeholders throughout North Carolina. As co-scientific editor, Dr. Bell will help to shape the scientific coverage of the NCMJ and engage top authors and peer reviewers from across the state.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Bell to the North Carolina Medical Journal team,” said Adam Zolotor, DrPH, publisher of the NCMJ. “We are grateful to him for sharing his experience and talents with our publication and our readers across the state.”

“I am truly honored to serve the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and the state of North Carolina in this capacity. The North Carolina Medical Journal has an outstanding reputation, and I hope to be able to continue that legacy,” said Bell.

Bell is an enrolled member of the Lumbee tribe and a native of Pembroke, North Carolina.  He earned his undergraduate degree in public health nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master’s and doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He also earned a master’s in epidemiology at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in gerontology at Wake Forest.

He currently chairs the North Carolina Diabetes Advisory Council and the North Carolina American Indian Health Board. He is also a co-chair of the Healthy North Carolina 2030 Task Force. In addition, Bell has a national platform, serving on the American Diabetes Association Health Disparities Committee. He is an associate editor with the journals Preventing Chronic Disease and the American Journal of Health Behavior.

Prior to joining ECU in 2016, Bell served for 20 years on the faculty in the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, where he also directed the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity from 2006-2016.

Bell joins George Lee Jackson, PhD, as co-scientific editor as we say farewell to John Wiley Williams, MD, and thank him for 14 years of dedicated service.

The North Carolina Medical Journal is a journal of health policy analysis and debate co-published by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. The NCMJ publishes six issues per year. This issue is co-sponsored by Medical Advocates for Healthy Air. To learn and read more, visit ncmedicaljournal.com.