The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced April 27 the launch of a new World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Social Innovation in Health—recognizing global leadership in research, partnership, and community-engaged approaches to improving health.
The WHO designation is anchored by the work of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Joe Tucker, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, and Elizabeth Chen, PhD, MPH, associate professor of health behavior, will co-direct the center, with leadership from Weiming Tang, PhD.
Building on Leadership in Behavioral Science and Innovations in Human-Centered Design
Social innovation in health focuses on community-led, locally adapted solutions that strengthen health systems and expand access to care. UNC’s approach is informed by the work of Tucker and Tang, who are co-directors of UNC Project-China, and have pioneered behavioral science and crowdsourcing approaches to address complex global health challenges.
“This center will reflect a growing recognition that equity requires new models of engagement,” explained Tucker. “By working alongside communities, policymakers, and practitioners, we can accelerate solutions that are both evidence-based and grounded in lived experience.”
Tucker and Tang apply behavioral science and crowdsourcing methods—such as open calls, designathons, and community-generated ideas—to expand participation in infectious disease research and accelerate innovation. Tucker’s research has contributed to several World Health Organization guidelines, and he serves as a member of the TDR Global Working Group.
The new center is also grounded in the work of Dr. Chen, who is focused on ways to integrate design thinking mindsets and methodologies into public health training, practice, and research.
“Communities are already innovating to solve urgent health challenges,” said Chen. “Our role is to partner with them—bringing rigorous methods, global networks, and sustained support to help these solutions reach more people.”
Chen serves as the Design Thinking Lead for Innovate Carolina. She co-founded the tech nonprofit MyHealthEd, Inc., with a mission to use human-centered design to improve the health and well-being of youth of every identity. Its first product “Real Talk” is a mobile app that uses real stories by real teens to convey relevant and credible information about health topics to teens and reassures them that they are not alone.
The team’s combined strengths in behavioral science, community engagement, and implementation research will enable the center to test and scale solutions that are both scientifically rigorous and grounded in local context–positioning UNC to lead globally in advancing community-driven health solutions.
Global Partnerships
Designated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO, the UNC center will serve as a hub for advancing social innovation in health across the Americas and globally. It will collaborate closely with PAHO country offices, WHO programs, and a network of academic and community partners. Initial efforts will focus on strengthening vaccination uptake, expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services and advancing digital health innovations for underserved populations.
Core priorities will include co-creation and community engagement, using participatory approaches such as crowdsourcing, designathons, and community-led research; evidence generation and scale-up, evaluating and adapting innovations across diverse settings; capacity strengthening, training early-career researchers, practitioners, and community leaders; and
policy translation, supporting integration of proven solutions into health systems.
The center will be part of a global network of academic hubs working to scale community-driven solutions. Through this network, UNC will contribute tools, case studies, and best practices to support countries worldwide.
People interested in signing up for more information about the WHO CC can contact manager Yanqi Wang at yanqwang@unc.edu. Read the University announcement.