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.

Daniel Obeng, ScM, MS

ASSociate SCIENTIST

Daniel Obeng began his career in bench science, working as a bioprocess engineer at Human Genome Sciences, where he developed therapeutic protein purification processes and established statistical standards for process characterization. His growing interest in statistics led him to earn a Master’s in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University. He then served as a CMC Statistician at Genzyme (now Sanofi), where he provided on-site statistical support, spearheaded statistical guidance, and led training initiatives to comply with FDA regulations. In 2019, Daniel transitioned to Flatiron Health, where he managed cross-functional analytics projects, developed statistical best practices, developed R packages, and oversaw the creation of a statistical programming team. Throughout his tenure in industry he developed and taught multiple short courses, including introductions to linear regression, ANOVA, stability analysis, and Git. These training sessions provided learners with essential statistical methods and analysis skills applicable in pharmaceutical research and quality control settings. 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 

Dr. Topper 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 443-927-8579 to speak with an admissions officer. You can also reach us via email at MAS-Office@jh.edu.