NCPERRC Profile
Edward L. Baker, MD, MPH
After a 21 year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Baker came to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to assume leadership of the NC Institute for Public Health, the service and outreach arm of the School of Public Health. That same year (2003) he was honored by the National Public Health Leadership Development Network with the Second Annual Balderson Lifetime Public Health Leadership Award for his tireless support and promotion of public health leadership development.
After earning his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Baker became a member of the EIS Class of 1974. From 1980 to 1985, he was Assistant, and then Associate Professor of Occupational Medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health. From 1985 to 1990, he was Assistant Director and later Deputy Director at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Baker became Director of CDC's Public Health Practice Program Office in 1990, where he led the creation of innovative programs in public health practice, both in the USA and abroad.