Dr. Peterson is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health and Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health and School of Medicine, respectively. He is also Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research Evidence for Sexual and Reproductive Health based in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at UNC. Dr. Peterson received his M.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; he subsequently completed residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at UNC and training in epidemiology as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is certified by both the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Peterson served for 20 years at the CDC, where he was Chief of the Epidemiologic Studies Branch and the first Chief of the Women’s Health and Fertility Branch of the Division of Reproductive Health. He served as a commissioned officer in the US Public Health Service for 20 years and retired in 2002 with the rank of (Navy) of Captain after receiving the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1999, he was assigned by CDC to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland where he served until coming to UNC in 2004.