225 years of Tar Heels: Deborah Parham Hopson Posted Dec 10, 2018 Rear Adm. Deborah Parham Hopson has said that coming to Carolina was one of the best decisions she has ever made. An alumna of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Hopson went on to become an assistant surgeon general at the U.S. Public Health Service and the first African-American nurse to achieve the rank of rear admiral at the US Public Health Service. (UNC.edu)