Faculty
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is comprised of over 650 full-time faculty including professors, scientists, lecturers, instructors and researchers. These renowned experts in the field are shaping public health through teaching, research, and application.
The Master of Applied Science in Spatial Analysis for Public Health is an interdisciplinary fully online, part-time degree. Faculty contribute to the program via course development, teaching, and advising students. Below are a few of the experts students will learn from.
Frank Curriero, PhD
PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, MAS AND CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS IN SPATIAL ANALYSIS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Dr. Curriero’s primary interests include the development and application of spatial statistical methodology and geographic information systems (GIS) in public health. Applications involve areas related to environmental epidemiology, exposure mapping, cluster detection and models for characterizing spatial variation in disease risk. His current methodological research includes spatial methods using alternative measures of distance and analysis for data at different levels of spatial resolution. In addition, Dr. Curriero serves as Principal Investigator/co-Principal Investigator on multiple grants leading the spatial analysis efforts, has developed the spatial analysis curriculum onsite at the School, and is Director of the newly forming Johns Hopkins Spatial Science for Public Health Center. He serves as primary instructor for two on-site courses at the School, as well as teaching online courses in the MAS program in Spatial Analysis for Public Health. Read Bio.
Aruna Chandran, MD
research professor
Dr. Aruna Chandran is a social epidemiologist and pediatrician, whose primary research interest is in applying epidemiologic methods to address the influences of socioeconomic and place-based factors on health disparities. She is part of a team evaluating the effectiveness of a demonstration project aimed to improve HIV prevention and treatment for vulnerable populations in Baltimore City. She is also a member of the data analysis centers for two large cohort consortia. Dr. Chandran’s clinical practice is focused on pediatric emergency and urgent care. She is involved in teaching introductory epidemiology courses both at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Department of Epidemiology, Dr. Chandran served for two years as the Chief of Epidemiologic Services at the Baltimore City Health Department. Read Bio.
Avonne Connor, PhD
ASSociate PROFESSOR
Dr. Connor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and holds a joint appointment in Oncology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a breast cancer study to evaluate novel approaches to address survival disparities among African American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women from New Mexico and Maryland. Her research focuses on the roles of modifiable risk factors with breast cancer incidence and mortality among diverse study populations. In addition to directing the Online Introduction to Epidemiology course, she is a lab instructor in the core Epidemiologic Methods series and serves as a the course director for two cancer epidemiology courses - Etiology, Prevention, and Control of Cancer and Cancer Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control during the Graduate Summer Institute of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins. Read Bio.
Timothy Shields, MA
senior SCIENTIST AND co-DIRECTOR, MAS AND CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS IN SPATIAL ANALYSIS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Mr. Shields currently serves as primary or co-Instructor for four on-site courses at the School, in addition to the online courses in the MAS program in Spatial Analysis for Public Health. His primary research interests include incorporating geographic information systems (GIS) with public health applications. He focuses on data management and environmental surveillance with respect to modeling of risk and spatial distributions of infectious disease. Read Bio.
Elizabeth F. Topper, PhD, MEd
research professor AND DIRECTOR, master of applied science (mas) programs
Dr. Topper is Director of the School’s MAS Programs Office. She currently serves as primary instructor for one blended on-site course and two online courses at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, as well as two online courses at the Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Her primary research interests include the effects of HIV infection and treatment on women's reproductive health, and evaluating the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy in observational studies. She serves as Principal Investigator of the Data Management and Analysis Center for the Women’s Interagency HIV Study, the largest ongoing prospective cohort study of HIV among women in the United States. Read Bio.
Amal Wanigatunga, PhD
ASSISTANT professor
Dr. Wanigatunga is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and associate faculty with the Center on Aging and Health. His primary focus is exploring the intersection between physical activity, function, and disability in older adult populations. Currently, most of his research focuses on physical activity measured in the BLSA (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging), an ongoing study of normative aging in well-functioning older adults. He is an active research collaborator with investigators spanning across the John Hopkins Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing. In addition to co-instructing the Online Introduction to Epidemiology course, he serves as a lab instructor in the core Epidemiologic Methods series held on campus. Read Bio.
Get in Touch
Request more information or call us at 410-955-3543 to speak with an admissions officer. You can also reach us via email at BSPH.Admissions@jhu.edu.