Carolyn Williams Inducted Into UK College of Public Health Hall of Fame
10/28/2014 – The UK College of Public Health inducted two new members into its Hall of Fame during the 11th Annual Hall of Fame celebration in October 2014.
The Hall of Fame was established in 2004 as a means of formally recognizing individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the health and welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth, the nation, or the world. The 2014 inductees into the Hall of Fame are Dr. Samuel Matheny and Dr. Carolyn Williams, who have both demonstrated such achievement and commitment.
Samuel C. Matheny, MD, MPH, has roots in Lincoln County, Ky., where four generations of his family lived on a farm. He received a bachelor's degree at Emory University; a medical degree from the University of Kentucky; and master's of public health at UCLA. He received postgraduate training at the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California Medical Center. He is Board Certified in general preventive medicine and family medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Preventive Medicine. He is currently the assistant provost for global health initiatives at UK and heads the University’s Global Health Advisory Committee.
Dr. Matheny has served as chair of the Division of Family Medicine at the University of South Carolina, as well as holding faculty appointments at UCLA and Loma Linda University. Further, he served as chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UK from 1998 to 2010, during which time the Department developed one of the earliest rural training track residencies. He was also responsible for initiating the global health track for the College of Medicine.
He is a past president of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM) and the Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians (KAFP). His academic interests have been in medical student and graduate education, particularly in rural areas, as well as HIV and global health.
Carolyn A Williams, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and dean emerita of the UK College of Nursing, grew up in Louisville. She earned her bachelor of science in nursing at Texas Woman’s University, and an master's of science in public health nursing and a PhD in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Beginning her career as a public health nurse in Texas, Williams returned to Kentucky in 1984 to accept the appointment of dean of the UK College of Nursing. She served in that role for 22 years before returning to the role of professor, where she remains today.
Williams led the faculty at the UK College of Nursing in developing the PhD in nursing program, which was initiated in 1986, and led the development and opening of the first Doctor of Nursing Practice Program in the United States in 2000-2001. She is a former president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Academy of Nursing.
Additionally, she has held appointments on federal research study sections and on national policy-making groups, including an appointment by President Carter to the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine, Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
She is the recipient of many awards, from the Young Practitioner Award from the Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association in 1973, to an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service in 2011, awarded by the University of Portland.
Written by Mallory Powell and Sarah Noble, UK Public Relations
