Projects and Research
Master's and doctoral students at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are working on important research projects that address many of the issues of global environmental change. Examples include:
Food system
- Evaluation of industrial animal production and human infections with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
Energy issues
- Health effects of unconventional natural gas development
- Associations of unconventional natural gas development to radon levels in buildings in Pennsylvania
- Relations of abandoned coal mine lands with community conditions and type 2 diabetes
Land use
Johns Hopkins Environment, Energy, Sustainability & Health Institute encourages interdisciplinary groups of faculty from across the University to work on many relevant projects. Examples of current projects that involve public health faculty are exploring:
- The effects of climate change on the global food system
- Inter-relationships between population, climate change, and ecosystems
- The relationships between childhood asthma, urban environments, heat, and tree cover in Baltimore City
- Land use: Jing Feng, PhD student, is working on a large-scale epidemiologic study of the built environment (including the local food environment) and obesity among children in 30 counties in Pennsylvania
- Land use and energy issues: Ann Liu, PhD student, is studying the community and individual health impacts of the burden of abandoned mine lands in 67 counties in Pennsylvania
- Food production: Study of pesticide exposures and neurodegenerative disease in rural areas of Pennsylvania
- Climate change: David Lessens, MPH student, is doing formative research on knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and obstacles to behavior change as they relate to climate change, global environmental change and “after peak oil"
- Energy use: Nate Link, MPH student, is doing formative research to reduce energy use at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Climate change, land use and food production: Mary Sheehan, MPH student, is doing a literature review of health effects of climate change in Brazil to inform Brazilian national policy through the World Bank
Education
- Learn about energy issues and public health [CP1]
- Presentation on "Peak Oil and Public Health" [CP2] to the Northeastern Maryland Technology Council-January 2009. [this is kind of old]
- Learn about coal and public health[CP3] [we need to discuss and update all of these]
Graduate Students
- Research and advocacy training for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health students. The Master of Public Health Concentration in Global Environmental Sustainability and Health [CP4] will better equip future public health leaders to address the challenges of global environmental change.
Health Professionals
- Learn about Climate Change and Public Health, and the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2007 Annual Meeting presentation by Brian S. Schwartz, MD, MS [now too old]
- Learn what health care workers and the environmental health community can do to address the issues of global environmental change
Graduate Students
- Research and advocacy training for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health students. The Master of Public Health Concentration in Global Environmental Sustainability and Health will better equip future public health leaders to address the challenges of global environmental change.
Health Professionals
- Learn about Climate Change and Public Health, and the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2007 Annual Meeting presentation by Brian S. Schwartz, MD, MS
- Learn what health care workers and the environmental health community can do to address the issues of global environmental change
- Learn what you can do to obtain renewable energy in Baltimore, prepared by Brent Kim, MHS student
Practice and Policy
A conference held in April 2007, The Heat is Rising: What You Need to Know about Climate Change and Public Health, brought together more than 200 health professionals, academics and students to learn more about global environmental change.
A conference held in March 2009, Peak Oil and Health, involved over 250 health professionals, academics and students, to bring attention to our coming energy challenges and the relevance of these issues to public health and health care. The conference spawned a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health,
Dr. Parker serves as CoChair of the School’s Environmental Stewardship
Dr. Cindy L. Parker represented the public health perspective on the Mitigation Working Group for the first Maryland Climate Change Commission, a panel of climate change content experts and stakeholders established by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to determine the best course of action for Maryland to follow to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. She is now on the Expert Group providing public health expertise to the Mitigation Working Group and is a member of the Science/Technical Working Group for the Climate Change Commission.
Dr. Parker represents Johns Hopkins on the Air Quality Citizen Advisory Council to the Maryland Department of Environment and is a member of the Commission on Sustainability of Baltimore City.
Dr. Schwartz helps policy makers think about Unconventional Natural Gas Development so that policies are more likely to be evidence-based.