The Dornsife School of Public Health

About the School

The Dornsife School of Public Health (DSPH) was founded on the principle of health as a human right and the recognition of the importance of social justice as a means to achieve health for all. We define health broadly to encompass physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely as the absence of disease or infirmity. We view the focus on the health of populations as a distinguishing feature of the field of public health. Our focus on population health requires us to consider not only the characteristics of individuals but also the broader social, economic, and policy contexts of health. It also implies that a broad range of actions and policies beyond those of the health care system can substantially impact health. Improving population health requires a fundamental commitment to social justice and the elimination of inequities in health. The goal of improving population health also cannot be achieved without meaningful and sustained partnerships. DSPH is committed to providing rigorous evidence and training, to building equitable partnerships, and to translating knowledge into actions that improve population health and reduce health inequities. Special distinguishing features of DSPH include a commitment to social justice and health equity, and engaging with local and global partners to create meaningful change via policy and public health practice.

Vision. To create a world that is healthier and more just for all and where everyone can live life to their full potential.

Mission. The mission of DSPH is to provide education, conduct research, and partner with communities and organizations to improve the health of populations. We view health as a human right and have a special commitment to improving health in cities, eliminating health disparities, and promoting health in all policies.

Values. DSPH faculty, staff, and students are committed to the following:

  • Health as a human right and the importance of social justice to health
  • Integrity, rigor, critical thinking, and self-reflection in research, scholarship, and education
  • Translation of knowledge into actions to improve population health and eliminate health disparities
  • Sustainable and equitable community partnerships
  • Inclusiveness, diversity, empathy, and respect for others regardless of position or status
  • Human dignity and open and honest dialogue
  • Service to local communities while recognizing the value of a global perspective

Majors

Accelerated Degree

Minors

 

Dornsife School of Public Health Faculty

Adaobi Anakwe, PhD, MPH (Saint Louis University). Assistant Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Black paternal health; maternal and child health; community-based participatory research; health disparities; racial and ethnic health inequalities; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches.
Amy Auchincloss, PhD, MPH (University of Michigan). Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cardiovascular disease; data analysis methods; diabetes; global health or international health; health disparities; health economics; health policy; nutrition; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health.
Maryia Bakhtsiyarava, PhD (University of Minnesota). Assistant Research Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Urban Health Collaborative. Environmental exposures; climate change; urban health; health disparities; GIS and spatial data science; demography.
Sharrelle Barber, ScD, MPH (Harvard University) Director, The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements and Population Health Equity. Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Urban Health Collaborative. Racial/ethnic health inequalities in cardiovascular disease; social determinants of racial/ethnic health inequalities in cardiovascular disease; community-engaged research; geography and health; multilevel analysis; spatial analysis and GIS; global health; urban health.
Usama Bilal, MD, PhD, MPH (Johns Hopkins University) Co-Director, Urban Health Collaborative. Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Urban Health Collaborative. Cardiovascular disease; diabetes; health and place or built environment; data analysis methods; health disparities; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health.
Sandra Bloom, MD (Temple University School of Medicine) Co-Founder, Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice. Associate Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Violence and trauma; public health practice; substance use; mental health and behavioral health; maternal and child health; healthcare administration and management; community engaged research.
Sherry Brandt-Rauf, MPhil, JD (Columbia University). Teaching Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Health policy; occupational health; environmental exposures; health disparities; public health law.
Jennifer Breaux, DrPh, MPH, CHES (Drexel University) Director, Undergraduate Education. Associate Teaching Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Maternal and child health; community health; human rights.
Darryl Brown, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Associate Teaching Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Health services research; healthcare administration and management; patient reported outcomes; health disparities; Pharmacoeconomics; managed care; urban health.
James Buehler, MD (University of California, San Francisco). Teaching Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Health policy; urban health; public health practice; public health & health care interface.
Igor Burstyn, PhD (Utrecht University). Associate Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Epidemiologic methods; statistical modeling; occupational health; environmental exposures; maternal and child health; mental health and behavioral health; neurodevelopment and neurologic disorders; industrial hygiene; risk assessment; Bayesian statistics; probabilistic bias analysis.
Amy Carroll-Scott, PhD, MPH (University of California at Los Angeles) Chair. Associate Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Urban health; health and place or built environment; community based participatory research; health inequities; spatial analysis or GIS; data integration; data visualization; mixed methods study designs; place-based, cross-sector interventions and evaluation.
Esther Chernak, MD, MPH, FACP (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) Director, Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication. Clinical Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Drexel University College of Medicine. Public health emergency preparedness; infectious diseases; medicine and public health; public health practice; crisis and emergency risk communication.
Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH (University of Pennsylvania) Director, Center for Hunger-Free Communities. Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Nutrition; community engaged research; health disparities; health policy; maternal and child health; mental health and behavioral health; urban health; violence and trauma; human rights; food insecurity.
Jane Clougherty, ScD, MSc (Harvard University). Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Environmental exposures; health and place or built environment; health disparities; urban health; violence and trauma; air pollution; chronic stress; environmental epidemiology; exposure science; gender analysis; multiple exposures; social epidemiology; spatial analysis/Geographic Information Systems (GIS); violence exposures.
Anneclaire De Roos, PhD, MPH (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Interim Chair. Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Environmental exposures; occupational health; spatial analysis or GIS; health and place or built environment; urban health; pesticides; risk assessment; drinking water; green landscape in cities.
Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH (Johns Hopkins University) Director, Urban Health Collaborative. Distinguished Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Urban Health Collaborative. Social determinants of health; neighborhoods and health; race and ethnic health disparities; psychosocial factors and cardiovascular disease; air pollution epidemiology; urban health; multilevel methods; complex systems approaches to population health; health in Latin America.
Christy Dure, MPA, MHA (Farleigh Dickinson University). Assistant Teaching Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Health policy; healthcare administration; racial and ethnic health disparities.
Jan M. Eberth, PhD (University of Texas Health Science Center) Chair. Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Cancer prevention; health equity; health policy; health services research; spatial analysis and GIS.
Nancy Epstein, MPH, MAHL (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Clinical Teaching Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Arts and public health; community organizing and community-engaged research; religion, spirituality and health; behavioral health; program planning and evaluation.
Alex Ezeh, PhD (University of Pennsylvania). Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Global/international health; urban health; longitudinal research designs and methods; reproductive and sexual health; population change and its drivers; health systems research; research capacity strengthening.
Jerry Fagliano, MPH, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Clinical Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Environmental exposures; public health practice; health disparities; climate change.
Robert Field, PhD, MPH, JD (Columbia University). Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Drexel University Kline School of Law. Health policy; public health law; health administration and management; public health ethics.
Neal D. Goldstein, PhD, MBI (Drexel University). Associate Research Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Data analysis methods; eHealth or mHealth; infectious disease; maternal and child health; reproductive or sexual health; spatial analysis or GIS; statistical modeling; vaccines and vaccinations; electronic medical records/informatics; translational epidemiology.
Edward Gracely, PhD (Temple University). Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Drexel University College of Medicine. Data analysis methods; statistical consulting; biostatistics; multiple comparisons.
Ashley B. Gripper, PhD, MPH (Harvard University). Assistant Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements, and Population Health Equity. Community-engaged research; environmental health; urban agriculture; climate justice; food justice; spirituality; land access; collective agency & community power.
Ali Groves, PhD, MHS (University of North Carolina). Associate Professor. Department of Community and Health Prevention. Reproductive or sexual health; maternal and child health; global health; data analysis methods; health disparities; community engaged research.
Aritra Halder, PhD, MS (University of Connecticut). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Bayesian modeling; spatiotemporal statistics; spatial statistics.
Irene Headen, PhD, MS (University of California, Berkeley). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Community engaged research; health disparities; health and place; maternal and child health; mixed methods research; social determinants of racial/ethnic inequities in maternal health; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health.
Stephanie Hernandez, PhD, MS (University of Texas at San Antonio). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Drexel FIRST Program. Demography; sexual and gender minority health; intersectionality; minority stress; Hispanic/Latino health; socioeconomic status; social determinants of health.
Tom Hipper, MSPH, MA (Johns Hopkins University) Associate Director, Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication. Assistant Clinical Teaching Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Crisis communication; risk communication; health communication; public health preparedness; emergency management; social media.
Jana A. Hirsch, MES, PhD (University of Michigan). Associate Research Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Urban Health Collaborative. Health and place or built environment; health disparities; mental health and behavioral health; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health; physical activity; active aging and age-friendly neighborhoods.
Jacquelyn (Jackie) Jahn, PhD, MPH (Harvard University). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements, and Population Health Equity. Social epidemiology; structural racism and health; quantitative methods for health inequities; urban health; maternal and child health; spatial analysis or GIS; violence and trauma.
Ericka Kalp, PhD, MPH, CIC, FAPIC (Walden University). Associate Clinical Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Infectious disease epidemiology; infection prevention and control; healthcare-associated infections; outbreak investigations; environment of care; sterilization and disinfection; research methodology; patient safety.
Jessie Kemmick Pintor, PhD, MPH (University of Minnesota). Assistant Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Center for Population Health and Community Impact. Community based participatory research; immigrant health; health disparities; health services research; health policy; maternal & child health; mixed methods; immigration policy.
Josiah L. Kephart, PhD, MPH, CPH (Johns Hopkins University). Assistant Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Drexel FIRST Program. Urban Health Collaborative. Environmental exposures; urban health; health disparities; environmental and social epidemiology; climate change; global health.
Ann Klassen, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Research Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Cancer; community based participatory research; data analysis methods; GIS-based and spatial analysis; environmental exposures; global health; immigrant health; health communication; health disparities; health policy; maternal and child health; substance abuse; nutrition; sexual health; urban health; mixed methods; qualitative methods; excess burden intervention.
Jennifer Kolker, MPH (University of Michigan). Clinical Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Urban health; public health practice; public health policy; public health workforce development and infrastructure.
Shiriki K. Kumanyika, PhD, MS, MPH (Cornell University). Research Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Solutions to obesity and diet-related diseases in Black children and adults; improving equity-focused obesity policies and programs; targeted marketing of unhealthy foods and beverage; food and nutrition policy; evidence-based public health; implementation research in community settings; systems science applications in public health.
Brent A. Langellier, PhD, MA (University of California, Los Angeles). Associate Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Health disparities; diet disparities; Latino health; immigrant health; health policy; complex systems.
Stephen Lankenau, PhD (University of Maryland) Director, Medical Cannabis Research Center. Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Mental health and behavioral health; substance use; urban health.
Jourdyn A. Lawrence, PhD, MSPH (Harvard University). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Drexel FIRST Program. Structural and interpersonal racism; racial/ethnic health inequities; social epidemiology; urban health; quantitative methods for social epidemiology; aging and cognitive function; embodiment; systematic review and meta-analysis.
Mariana Lazo, MD, PhD, ScM (Johns Hopkins University). Associate Research Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Racial/ethnic health disparities; Hispanic/Latino health; social determinants of health; community-based participatory research; urban health; epidemiology of obesity and diabetes; epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases; epidemiology of alcohol consumption; epidemiology of chronic liver diseases.
Michael LeVasseur, PhD, MPH (Drexel University). Assistant Teaching Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Data analysis methods; health disparities; infectious disease; reproductive or sexual health.
Brian Lee, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Data analysis methods; maternal and child health; mental health and behavioral health; neurodevelopment and neurologic disorders.
Nora Lee, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Assistant Research Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Maternal and child health; reproductive and perinatal health; health disparities; tobacco control.
Longjian Liu, MD, PhD, MSc, FAHA (The University of Hong Kong). Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cardiovascular disease; diabetes; environmental exposures; global health or international health; health disparities; infectious disease; neurodevelopment and neurologic disorders; nutrition; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health; pharmacoepidemiology; air quality and urban health in China; health failure epidemiology.
J. Craig Longenecker, MD, MPH, PhD (Johns Hopkins University). Teaching Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Clinical epidemiology; chronic disease epidemiology; infectious disease epidemiology; cardiovascular disease; renal disease; diabetes.
Javier Lopez-Rios, PhD, MPH (The City University of New York). Assistant Teaching Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Racial, ethnic, and sexual minority populations; HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention; qualitative research methods; community health.
Gina Lovasi, PhD, MPH (University of Washington) Dana and David Dornsife Dean of the Dornsife School of Public Health. Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Urban Health Collaborative. Cardiovascular disease; data analysis methods; health and place or built environment; health disparities; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health; urban trees and greenspace; local retail and urban design; transportation, infrastructure and policies.
Félice Lê-Scherban, PhD, MPH (University of Michigan). Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cardiovascular disease; community based participatory research; health and place or built environment; health disparities; immigrant health; life course; mental health and behavioral health; urban health.
Ana Martinez-Donate, PhD (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain). Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Community engaged research; immigrant health; health disparities; HIV prevention; health care access; Latino health; syndemics.
Tara McAlexander, PhD, MPH (Johns Hopkins University). Assistant Research Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, nutrition; spatial analysis or GIS; data analysis methods, statistical modeling; health and place or built environment; occupational health, environmental exposures, emergency preparedness; health disparities.
Yvonne Michael, ScD, SM (Harvard University) Interim Chair. Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Social epidemiology; epidemiology of aging; women’s health; neighborhoods and health; health disparities.
Reneé H. Moore, PhD (Emory University) Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Director, Biostatistics Scientific Collaboration Center. Research Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Clinical trials; health disparities; obesity prevention.
Bertranna Muruthi, PhD, MS (University of Georgia). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Drexel FIRST Program. Immigrant health; global health or international health; community engaged research; community based participatory research; race and ethnicity; health disparities.
Safiyyah Okoye, PhD, MSN, RN (Johns Hopkins University). Assistant Professor. Graduate Nursing; FIRST Faculty (Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation)
Lilianna Phan, PhD, MPH, MS (University of Maryland College Park). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Drexel FIRST Program. Drexel College of Nursing and Health Professions. Social determinants of health; health disparities; community-engaged research; tobacco prevention and control; tobacco-related health disparities; tobacco regulatory science; health communication; racism and discrimination
Alex Quistberg, PhD, MPH (University of Washington). Associate Research Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Urban Health Collaborative. Data analysis methods; global health; health and place; health disparities; spatial analysis; geographic information systems (GIS); urban health; intentional/violent injury and trauma; unintentional injury and trauma; artificial intelligence; computer vision.
Lucy Robinson, PhD (Columbia University). Associate Teaching Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Neuroimaging; functional data analysis; environmental health.
Alexis Roth, PhD, MPH (Indiana University). Associate Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Substance use; reproductive or sexual health; community engaged research; infectious diseases; eHealth or mHealth; health disparities; urban health; mixed methods; women’s health; social determinants of health.
Ayden Scheim, PhD (Western University, Canada). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Global health or international health; infectious disease; substance use; community based participatory research; social epidemiology; survey research methods; HIV/AIDS; LGBT health.
Leah Schinasi, PhD (University of North Carolina). Assistant Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Environmental exposures; cancer; health and place or built environment; occupational health; urban health; community based participatory research; environmental justice; environmental epidemiology; climate change.
Alina Schnake-Mahl, ScD, MPH (Harvard University). Assistant Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Infectious disease; health disparities; health and place or built environment; urban health; data analysis methods; health services research; health policy.
Gabriel L. Schwartz, PhD (Harvard University). Assistant Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Drexel FIRST Program. Social epidemiology; health inequities; urban health; housing; segregation; police violence; quantitative methods; social policy; life course epidemiology; structural racism; social stratification.
Randall Sell, ScD (Harvard University). Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Evaluation methods; research methods; LGBT health.
Lindsay Shea, DrPH, MS (Drexel University) Director, Policy and Analytics Center, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. Associate Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. Neurodevelopment; neurologic disorders; mental health; behavioral health; health policy.
Mark Stehr, BS, PhD (University of California at Berkeley) Director, School of Economics. Professor. Department of Health Management and Policy. School of Economics in the LeBow College of Business. Health policy, health economics; data analysis methods.
Agus Surachman, PhD, MS (The Pennsylvania State University). Assistant Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Drexel FIRST Program. Aging; biopsychosocial factors of health; cardiovascular disease; health disparities; life course; racial health inequalities; renal disease; socioeconomic status; stress.
Thersa Sweet, PhD, MPH (University of Michigan). Associate Teaching Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cancer; health disparities; infectious diseases.
Brisa N. Sánchez, PhD (Harvard University) Associate Dean for Research. Dornsife Endowed Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Statistical methods development; big data; data integration; health and place or built environment; development of mixed methods; health disparities; spatial analysis or GIS; environmental exposures.
Loni Philip Tabb, PhD (Harvard University) Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. Associate Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cardiovascular health; health disparities & inequities; urban health; violence and trauma; environmental exposures; health and place; built environment; Bayesian statistical methods; spatial and spatio-temporal disease mapping.
Jennifer Taylor, PhD, MPH, CPPS (Johns Hopkins University) Interim Associate Dean for Public Health Practice. Director, Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends. Arthur L. and Joanne B. Frank Professor. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Community engaged research; data analysis methods; healthcare administration and management; health services research; health disparities; health policy; mental health or behavioral health; occupational health; public health practice; spatial analysis or GIS; urban health; violence and trauma.
Renee Turchi, MD, MPH (Medical College of Pennsylvania). Clinical Research Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Health care for children and youth with special health care needs; child and maternal health.
Elizabeth (Libby) Salerno Valdez, PhD, MPH (University of Arizona). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Community-led health equity structural interventions; participatory action research; adolescent health; maternal and child health; mental health; sexual and reproductive health; substance use; Latinx immigrant health; U.S.-Mexico border health.
Luis Arturo Valdez, PhD, MPH (University of Arizona). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Drexel FIRST Program. Gender-transformative interventions; patriarchy and health; men’s health; participatory action research; Latinx health disparities; substance use; nutrition and physical activity; stress.
Kofoworola D.A. Williams, PhD, MPH (Virginia Commonwealth University). Assistant Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Drexel FIRST Program. Black men & boy’s mental health; social and behavioral determinants; access and help-seeking; digital mental health; qualitative & mixed methods; health disparities.
Goro Yamada, PhD, MHS, MHS, MMS (Johns Hopkins University). Assistant Teaching Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Data management; analytical methods for research and public health practice; global health.
Issa Zakeri, PhD (University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign). Professor. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Data analysis methods; statistical modeling.
Arturo Zinny, LPC, MA (Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina) Executive Director, Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice. Assistant Clinical Professor. Department of Community Health and Prevention. Child trauma & mental health; LGBTQ youth; mental health needs of racial & ethnic minority youth and families; the implementation of evidence-based practices for trauma-impacted children, adults, and their families.

Emeritus Faculty

Janet Fleetwood, PhD, MPH (University of Southern California). Professor Emerita. Department of Community Health and Prevention.
Arthur Frank, MD, PhD (Mount Sinai School of Medicine). Professor Emeritus. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.
Dennis Gallagher, MA, MPA (University of Pittsburgh). Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus. Department of Health Management and Policy.
Marla Gold, MD (New Jersey Medical School) Professor and Dean Emerita. Department of Health Management and Policy.
Raymond Lum, MS (University of Pennsylvania). Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus. Department of Health Management and Policy.
Jana Mossey, PhD, MPH, MSN (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Professor Emerita. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
Augusta Villanueva, PhD (University of Texas at Austin). Associate Professor Emerita. Department of Community Health and Prevention.
Seth Welles, PhD, ScD (Harvard University). Professor Emeritus. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.