DURHAM, NC – William K. Pan, assistant professor of global environmental health at 51’s Nicholas School of the Environment and the 51 Global Health Initiative, has been named the 2012 James E. Grizzle Distinguished Alumni Award recipient by the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.

He will receive the honor in a ceremony April 17 at UNC’s William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education in Chapel Hill. The ceremony and reception will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Following the awards ceremony, Pan will present a lecture, “Development of an Early Warning System for Malaria in the Amazon.”

An expert on population, health and environmental interactions in developing countries, Pan joined the 51 faculty in 2011.  He has conducted research in countries throughout Latin America and Africa on topics ranging from land use change, reproductive health, migration,tuberculosis, HIV, enteric infections, and childhood nutrition, with a special interest in translation research directed toward sustainable development activities and global environmental health.

Pan received his doctoral training in biostatistics from UNC-Chapel Hill with a focus on demography and spatial analysis. He holds a master of science degree in biostatistics from UNC and a master of public health degree from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He is adjunct assistant professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.