Suzanne Hobbs

Suzanne Hobbs serves as Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a joint appointment in the Department of Nutrition, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. She earned her DrPH in Health Policy and Management from UNC Chapel Hill in 2001, with a dissertation on the influence of interest groups on federal school meals regulations; an MS in Human Nutrition from Winthrop University in 1991; and a BS Honors in Dietetics from Michigan State University in 1981. Her academic career at UNC began in 1999 as a teaching assistant and progressed through roles including teaching fellow, adjunct assistant professor, clinical assistant professor from 2004 to 2009, and clinical associate professor since 2009. Since 2006, she has directed the Doctoral Program in Health Leadership (DrPH). Previously, she was president of Suzanne Havala Nutrition Consultants, Inc., since 1992, providing nutrition consultation, health management, and freelance writing services, and held clinical, administrative, and community nutrition positions in hospitals from 1981 to 1992.

Hobbs's research specializations encompass health management education, distance education, health care leadership, dietary guidance policy, food and nutrition policy, cultural proficiency in health services delivery, and health journalism and communication. She served as a visiting scholar in the European Commission Erasmus Mundus Europubhealth Programme at institutions in France and England from 2010 to 2011. Notable awards include the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Innovation+Inspiration Award for Faculty Teaching in 2011, WCHL Village Pride “Hometown Hero” Award in 2010, membership in the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, and fellow of the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education since 2009. Key publications feature books such as Living Dairy-Free for Dummies (Wiley, 2010), Living Vegetarian for Dummies, Second Edition (Wiley, 2009), Get the Trans Fat Out (Three Rivers Press, 2006), and Being Vegetarian for Dummies (Wiley, 2001); and peer-reviewed articles including “Clinical leadership to improve health outcomes” (The Lancet, 2013), “Preparedness Roles for Health Policy and Management Departments: Ensuring Educational Continuity during Disaster Events” (Journal of Health Administration Education, 2009), and “The Changing Pattern of Doctoral Education in Public Health 1985-2005 and the Challenge of Doctoral Training for Practice and Leadership” (American Journal of Public Health, 2008). She contributed weekly columns to the Raleigh News & Observer from 2003 to 2014, enhancing public understanding of health and nutrition policy.

Professional Email: suzanne_hobbs@unc.edu