The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has launched a new interactive website recognizing 12 outstanding women from the School whose scientific contributions influenced public health and continue to make a difference in the world. The Women in Public Health site covers the remarkable careers of these women, some of whom risked their lives to pursue their research.
“The Women in Public Health site recognizes just a few of the many women whose scientific discoveries greatly advanced public health and some of the women who are still working to improve our lives. The accomplishments of these women demonstrate a commitment to science that should be an example for all,” said Thea Glidden, executive director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, who initiated the development of the site.
The site examines the careers of scientists both past and present, from the late Anna Baetjer, who was among the first scientists to correlate specific occupations to an increased risk of death, to Francesca Dominici, an associate professor with the School’s Department of Biostatistics, whose ongoing research raises new questions about the impact of air pollution on our health. Other women featured on the webpage include former scholars Margaret Merrill, Helen Abbey, Martha Eliot, Ruth Freeman and Virginia Apgar, who developed the “Apgar score” for accessing the health of newborns. Current scientists featured include Diane Griffin, Edyth Schoenrich, Lynn Goldman, Amy Tsui and Joanne Katz, who once lost years of research data when political unrest swept the Philippines in 1986.
The discoveries of these researchers influenced the fields of occupational health, child development, molecular microbiology, biostatistics and environmental science. Individually, these women have been inducted into prestigious groups such as the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.
The Women in Public Health website is available at www.jhsph.edu/womeninpublichealth. The site will be expanded to include more pioneering women in the coming months.
Public Affairs media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons or Kenna Lowe at 410-955-6878 or paffairs@jhsph.edu.