She followed her dad into public health

Kim Enders ’25 (DrPH) stood onstage with a wide smile at last month’s doctoral hooding ceremony. With a matching grin, her father was right beside her.

Dr. Bert Peterson had the special honor of hooding his daughter as she received a doctoral degree from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

When Enders, a senior research scientist in the biostatistics department and member of the UNC Center for AIDS Research, learned her adviser couldn’t make the ceremony, she asked The Graduate School if her dad could stand in.

“I’m more grateful for that moment than I can even begin to express. Every parent’s wish and joy is to see their child thrive,” said Peterson, a Gillings and UNC School of Medicine faculty member since 2004.

Peterson held important roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the World Health Organization in Geneva while Enders was growing up. “He exposed me from a very young age to public health and the challenges and how people can band together to address those challenges,” Enders said. Watching his career, his life and his impact led her into public health and biostatistics.

Peterson’s previous roles at the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization put public health on Enders’ radar. (Kelly McDaniel/The Graduate School)

Passing down a public health passion

Peterson first came to Carolina in the late 1970s for his medical residency in obstetrics and gynecology. He spent 20 years at the CDC, where he was chief of an epidemiologic studies branch and also the first chief of the women’s health and fertility branch.

From 1999 to 2004, he worked at the WHO. Peterson currently serves as director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research Evidence for Sexual and Reproductive Health, based in Gillings’ maternal and child health department.

At the heart of his current work is what’s called “implementation science.”

“We’ve been focusing not only on the lifesaving and life-enhancing interventions but how to put them into practice equitably and at scale so that everybody benefits,” Peterson said.

At one point, Enders thought she would be a physician, too. But after shadowing a doctor for a summer, she realized she would take a different route.

Recognizing his daughter’s love of numbers and math, Peterson put biostatistics on her radar, and Enders ran with it.

She majored in the discipline as an undergraduate at Elon University while minoring in public health and worked as a statistician at RTI International before coming to Carolina for her doctoral studies.

Enders moved to Chapel Hill when she was 12 when Peterson joined the faculty at Gillings and the UNC School of Medicine. (Kelly McDaniel/The Graduate School)

‘Special beyond words’

When it came to graduate school, “Gillings was my top choice from the start,” Enders said.

Through her studies, she was able to participate in a wide range of HIV research projects — both globally and in the U.S. Enders also began working for the UNC Center for AIDS Research this past school year.

While Enders and Peterson never professionally collaborated during her studies, the duo appreciated hangouts in Peterson’s Rosenau Hall office, whether for a hug, quick snack or just to catch up.

“It was special beyond words just to be able to see your parent for a few minutes every day,” Enders said.

For Peterson, having a role in his daughter’s graduation celebrations was a Father’s Day gift that came early.

“That was one beautiful moment in a host of beautiful moments because she was thriving in every way,” Peterson said. “I will be forever grateful to her department, to Gillings and to the University.”

The joy of the moment extended to their whole family, including Enders’ 5-year-old daughter.

“She had her preschool graduation about a week and half later and, with great enthusiasm, kept saying, ‘I’m going to graduate like you did with Papaw!’” Enders said.