Keynote Speaker
David R. Tillman, PhD
David R. Tillman, PhD is a tenured Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health at Campbell University. His work focuses on the intersections of public health, faith, ethics, community engagement, and institutional leadership.
Tillman is a Global Fellow with the Leading Causes of Life Initiative and an Interfaith America Faith and Health Fellow. He helped lead Campbell University’s Faith in the Vaccine initiative, partnering with the tribal communities and Indigenous-rooted Baptist congregations in eastern North Carolina to address vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, historical mistrust, and the religious questions shaping health decisions.
He also leads Harnett County’s SOLVE overdose prevention initiative, a countywide collaborative that places faith leaders, people with lived experience, public health professionals, behavioral health providers, and other community partners in shared leadership and decision-making roles. The initiative has expanded community naloxone distribution and access to medications for opioid use disorder and was associated with a 72% reduction in fentanyl-positive overdose deaths over two years.
Tillman is the author of The LAMP Lens: A Field Guide, published by Interfaith America, which grew from his work bringing lived wisdom, academic expertise, moral wisdom, and professional expertise into community health partnerships. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Fragile X Foundation and a recipient of the Special Olympics North Carolina Golisano Health Leadership Award.