Awards

Bicentennial Medal - 2019

About Hugh Tilson

Hugh Tilson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the UNC School of Law. He holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard. Tilson is a member of the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health National Advisory Board.

Tilson was named director of the North Carolina Health Education Centers (NC AHEC) in 2018. NC AHEC is a statewide network founded in 1972 to promote primary care and prevention and improve the quality of health care. Tilson also operated Tilson Solutions, offering strategic planning, public affairs, and other consulting services to a range of clients. Tilson has over two decades of leadership experience at the North Carolina Hospital Association (now the NC Healthcare Association). Prior roles include director of legal and regulatory affairs, eventually becoming the group's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In 2014, the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the de Beaumont Foundation partnered to enhance understanding of some personal and professional characteristics or organizational factors that make state health officials successful, to fill the gap in public health leadership research in this area. In 2019, Tilson was awarded Indiana University's Bicentennial Medal, in recognition of his distinguished service and support of the university and public health.