CPC at 60: How Carolina Population Center Helped Fellow Kat Tumlinson Build a Career in Global Health

By Grayson Mendenhall
gkm4unc@email.unc.edu

As the Carolina Population Center celebrates 60 years, Faculty Fellow Kat Tumlinson reflects on the mentorship, collaboration and extraordinary support that have shaped her research and career.

For Kat Tumlinson, the idea that geography should not determine whether someone has access to quality health care is more than a guiding principle. It is the foundation of her research career.

An epidemiologist and demographer, Tumlinson is a faculty member in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and a longtime Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center (CPC). Her research focuses on strengthening health systems in low-resource settings, particularly in Kenya and Madagascar, where she works with local partners to improve access to essential health services.

Her work began with a focus on increasing access to contraception and improving the quality of contraceptive care. It has since expanded to address broader health system challenges, including shortages of essential medicines and the absence of health care providers when patients need them most.

It’s ambitious work that requires expertise across disciplines, sophisticated research methods and the ability to navigate the complexities of international fieldwork. For Tumlinson, CPC has been an essential partner in meeting those challenges.

As the Center celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2026, her experience illustrates how CPC’s commitment to mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration and research support helps scholars turn important questions into meaningful discoveries.

From Trainee to Faculty Fellow

Tumlinson’s relationship with CPC spans much of her academic career. She spent five years as a predoctoral trainee, another year as a postdoctoral trainee and became a Faculty Fellow in 2017.

“In many ways, I think of CPC as my true intellectual home,” she said.

That sense of belonging has translated into professional opportunities. Tumlinson credits CPC’s leadership and staff with helping her establish an independent research career, particularly through the complicated process of securing major federal grants.

When she was a new faculty Fellow, former CPC Director Elizabeth Frankenberg and CPC researcher Robert Hummer provided extensive feedback on one of her first major National Institutes of Health grant applications. Through CPC’s proposal development workshops, Tumlinson gained insight into the grant review process that would have been difficult to acquire on her own.

She still remembers the response to her revised application: reviewers described it as a “model resubmission.”

“I knew that was because of Elizabeth and Bob and what they had invested in me,” she recalled.

For a junior faculty member, that kind of mentorship can make an enormous difference. Experienced researchers understand not only how to develop strong scientific proposals but also the unwritten expectations that can determine whether a grant succeeds.

“I really credit CPC and the leadership as well as the staff with my whole career,” Tumlinson said. “I’ve been able to build the academic career that I always dreamed of because of the support that I’ve gotten there.”

Supporting Research Across Borders

Conducting population research in countries such as Kenya and Madagascar presents challenges that extend far beyond developing a strong research question. Researchers must navigate unfamiliar infrastructure, data collection technologies and logistical obstacles that can differ dramatically from those encountered in the United States.

Tumlinson remembers the transition from paper questionnaires to electronic data collection as a particularly revealing example.

Earlier in her career, collecting survey data meant traveling with stacks of printed questionnaires, transporting completed forms back to the United States and painstakingly entering the information into databases.

Moving to tablets promised a more efficient approach but introduced new technical challenges. Devices and connectivity systems that worked in the United States were not necessarily suitable for fieldwork in Kenya.

When Tumlinson needed help, she turned to CPC’s technical staff.

She remembers Tim Van Acker, whom she had known since her first year as a doctoral student, as someone who always took a genuine interest in her work.

Even when she contacted him from Kenya, he responded with the same enthusiasm and willingness to help. She recalls receiving calls and emails from him at unusually early hours, sometimes while he was out walking his dog, simply because he wanted to make sure she had what she needed.

“To have that level of support is tremendous,” she said.

CPC’s expertise has also helped Tumlinson address one of the most fundamental challenges in population research: selecting a representative sample.

Working with CPC staff member Brian Frizzell, who has expertise in geospatial data collection and analysis, she learned how satellite imagery could be used to identify structures and develop population-based sampling strategies in places where conventional census information might be outdated or inadequate.

The approach offered a more rigorous alternative to less precise field sampling methods and strengthened her confidence in the quality of her data.

“With Brian, I can feel really confident that I’ve gotten a really good representative sample of the population that I’m studying,” she said.

For Tumlinson, these examples demonstrate how specialized research support can directly improve the quality of scientific work. Much of her international research, she believes, would have been considerably more difficult, if not impossible, without CPC.

Stronger Science Through Collaboration

Beyond its technical resources, Tumlinson sees CPC’s interdisciplinary environment as one of its greatest strengths.

Her work draws on epidemiology, demography, health policy and the social sciences. Through CPC, she has collaborated with economists, sociologists, clinicians and other researchers whose perspectives challenge and enrich her own.

“You can walk into a conversation with one idea of how you might approach your research and leave with a completely different and much better approach to answering your question,” she said.

That collaborative culture extends to the Center’s training programs, which Tumlinson experienced firsthand. From faculty mentorship and weekly seminars to conference presentations and professional networking, CPC gives emerging scholars opportunities to develop the skills and connections needed for independent research careers.

She also emphasizes the extraordinary dedication of CPC’s administrative, grants and technical staff, whose behind-the-scenes contributions make research possible.

“When we succeed as fellows, they’re just happy for us,” she said.

Sixty Years of Building Community

As CPC marks six decades of population research, Tumlinson’s journey from graduate trainee to established faculty researcher offers a compelling example of the Center’s enduring impact.

Her career reflects not only the value of scientific resources and interdisciplinary expertise, but also the importance of an institutional culture in which people genuinely care about one another’s success.

“I think a real strength is the interdisciplinary nature of bringing so many different folks together, connecting many different perspectives,” she said. “I think it makes our science stronger.”

And while CPC’s reputation is a source of professional pride, the personal connections matter just as much.

“It’s nice to feel that you’re part of a community,” she said. “It’s nice to be part of something that has such a great reputation. I can feel really proud that I’m affiliated with CPC.”

For 60 years, the Carolina Population Center has brought together researchers, trainees and staff to advance the understanding of populations and improve lives around the world.

For Kat Tumlinson, CPC has been more than a place to conduct research. It has been the community that helped make her career possible.

“I just feel really fortunate,” she said.