Old North News

Jane Hoppin, a professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University, has received the 2021 Gov. James E. Holshouser, Jr., Award for Excellence in Public Service.

The award "honors faculty who exemplify the University of North Carolina System’s commitment to service and community engagement," the university said.

Arwin Smallwood, a professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, also received the award.

Hoppin was a big part of establishing the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), which is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

"Since 1993, the AHS has enrolled more than 89,000 farmers and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina, led to hundreds of publications identifying associations between pesticide exposures and human disorders, and helped to inform and facilitate safer practices to protect agricultural communities," NC State University said.

Hoppin also created GenX Exposure Study on the exposures and long-term health effects of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the drinking water in Wilmington and Fayetteville.

"To date, she has recruited hundreds of citizens, collecting surveys and blood samples, and will help answer their pressing questions about their exposures and long-term health effects," according to NC State University.

NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said Hoppin continues to improve the quality of life for underserved communities through meaningful public service.

“The complexities of establishing trust in communities to which you are  an outsider, while managing to conduct high-quality research that has the ability to affect not only the subject community, but communities globally, are challenges with which most of us have not contended,” Woodson said, according to NC State's website.