Center Scholars

Dr. Fasika Molla Abreha is a full time MPH student at the school of public health. She completed her medical degree at Haramaya University in Ethiopia after which she worked as a general practitioner and lecturer for a teaching university hospital. There she also served as the clinical governance and quality unit officer. She gained her Masters of Science in healthcare management in Italy from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart after which  she worked on several international projects including European Horizon 2020 projects. She worked as a healthcare data analyst and consultant for the Netherlands research institution (NIVEL) as well as assistant researcher for the Artificial intelligence unit in the Catholic University that works on Health Technology Assessment (HTA). She also worked on the health economic review for different vaccine effectiveness studies conducted in Italy and other European countries. She is passionate about Health Economic Outcome Research (HEOR) by using data from clinical trials, surgical outcome research and the applications of digital health to improve healthcare delivery.

Taiwo Akindahunsi obtained a Doctor of Medicine from Crimea Federal University, Russia. She has five years professional experience as a general practitioner at the Lagos state Primary Health Care Board, where she worked as a disease surveillance physician. Her team utilized the tools of public health surveillance system to provide information to guide interventional strategies to facilitate disease control. Some of her activities include the analysis of disease patterns among over 500 children during the 2018 national measles and rubella surveillance through interpretation of microbiological results using data from laboratories for preliminary assessment of antimicrobial resistance surveillance system.

Melat Asebot is a full-time MPH student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her medical degree from St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked as a primary responder in the COVID-19 treatment center at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College and as a COVID-19 case management team focal at Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau Emergency Operating Center in charge of coordinating patient treatment and vaccination. She is a co-founder of a start-up company named Hyssop Pharma trading P.L.C, a platform designed to ease access to medication and health services via a mobile application and call center by providing information about the availability and cost of medications in Addis Ababa. This project was awarded the best healthcare project in an entrepreneurship competition organized by STEMpower and Visa. She was also a project coordinator at the center for professional and institutional development. She is interested in pharmacoepidemiology, clinical trials, vaccine, drug safety, and effectiveness.

Umaima Tahir Banda is a current full-time MPH student at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, concentrating in Epidemiology/biostatistics. Umaima obtained her BSc Medical Laboratory Science majoring in Chemical Pathology from the University of Ghana, School of Biomedical Science and Allied Health. She also has certificates in Global Health Project Management and Leadership and Management from the University of Washington. Umaima previously worked with multiple healthcare organizations as the lead biomedical scientist. She has about ten years of combined clinical and volunteer experience. She is interested in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and biologics, including their utilization in low-middle-income countries using real-world evidence synthesis.

Audrey Cheng completed a Bachelor’s of Science, majoring in Public Health Science and Finance, from Santa Clara University.  She then worked as a Health Policy Analyst at Vanderbilt Medical Center from 2019-2021 where one of her first projects sparked her interest in the intersection of drug policy and law, and subsequently began attending The George Washington University School of Law.  In 2022, she took a leave of absence in order to complete her MPH at JHSPH, where she hopes to further delve into learning and working with pharmaceutical policy and law in order to improve drug access and utilization.

Cheryl Chia completed her BSc (Genetics) and PhD (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and is now a full-time MPH/MBA student (Class of 2022) at Johns Hopkins University.  Cheryl has spent several years as a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore, undertaking discovery research in immunology and oncology. More recently, Cheryl assumed the role of Operations Lead at the Office of the Director, NIH, in supporting the All of Us Research Program: a landmark precision medicine initiative that aims to collect genetic and health data from one million diverse volunteers in the US. In this role, Cheryl worked on areas spanning governance, researcher engagement, patient experience and retention, and biospecimen/data access. Her research interests include pharmacoeconomics and unintended consequences of public health policies. 

Michael Chiu completed a BS in Human Biology at the University of California, San Diego. He currently works in data visualization, supporting clinical trials and drug development at a pharmaceutical company. Here, Michael employs statistical methods to assess drug safety, and his work is used in the development of safety update reports which are submitted to the FDA for review. Michael is pursuing an ScM in Epidemiology with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health where he hopes to use big data analytics to approach research topics in pharmacoepidemiology, regulatory science, and experiment design. 

Sanika has completed her Bachelor of Pharmacy from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai with a research focus on pharmaceutical formulation development and pharmacokinetics. She has also completed a semester at Hochschule Hannover, where she completed credit courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and clinical research. Post her undergraduate degree, she worked as a Scientific Editor/ Reviewer for the Allied Healthcare team at Cactus Communications. Currently, she is an MHS student in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology track at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research interests lie in the intersection of infectious disease epidemiology and the pharmaceutical epidemiology. She is also interested in exploring the domains of pharmaceutical consulting, clinical trial research, and generic formulation development. 

Busola Fadojutimi is a pharmacist with great leadership skills and experience in healthcare. She earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and has practiced for over five years, in various fields of Pharmacy. She co-founded Purple Rain Sickle Cell Foundation, an organization that makes routine Sickle Cell medications affordable and accessible to people living with the disease. She is interested in diseases’ epidemiology, drugs’ use and safety particularly for people living with rare diseases. She hopes to get into the Pharmaceutical industry (Patient/Drug Safety) and make remarkable contributions after her MPH/MBA program at Johns Hopkins University. 

Grace Gahlon is an ScM candidate in the Department of Epidemiology. She currently works as a research assistant on hearing aid devices at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health. Prior to her matriculation to JHSPH, she served as a research assistant at the RAND Corporation, supporting health services and population health projects. Through her work, she developed an interest in medical device safety, the use of real-world evidence, and regulatory science. Grace received her Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Boston College in 2018.

Scott Goldman earned undergraduate degrees in Economics and Spanish at Wake Forest University in 2015. Following graduation, he gained more than 4.5 years of experience as a paralegal at a Washington, D.C. law firm which specialized in regulatory compliance consulting for products and services that fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Federal Trade Commission. Scott began the MPH/MBA program at JHU in July 2020. He aspires to more effectively analyze the safety and efficacy of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to better inform mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Shota Hasui is an MPH candidate concentrating in epidemiological and biostatistical methods. Prior to his time at Hopkins, Shota was a senior account manager at CommCore, a boutique communications consulting firm. At CommCore, Shota worked on pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, particularly in the oncology and rare disease spaces. His work centered on framing clinical trial data readouts (Phase I – Phase III) for the investor audience. His clients included: Merck, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. He has worked on various therapeutic modalities including immune checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T therapy, gene therapy, and gene editing. Shota has an MA in Film and Media Studies from Columbia University and a BA in Religious Studies from Gettysburg College.

Jamie Heyward is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. For the last four years, he was a research data analyst with the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness and a program coordinator for the Johns Hopkins Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science (JH-CERSI). In these roles, he oversaw and led research on drug utilization and regulatory oversight of prescription drugs; and managed a multi-year, collaborative research initiative with FDA and Johns Hopkins investigators. Prior to working in the CDSE, he obtained a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from Johns Hopkins. He is interested in innovative methods to evaluate the real-world safety and effectiveness of therapeutics using novel data sources and analytic techniques; and their application in pharmacovigilance and regulatory science.

Myles Jackson received a BS in Biological Science from Florida State University in 2020. He is currently completing his MHS in the Department of Epidemiology on the 'Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis' track. He is also pursuing a certificate in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. Myles's research interests include comparative effectiveness of chronic pharmaceutical therapeutics, health equity regarding trial data impacting underserved communities, and post-market clinical evaluation. 
 

Corey Joseph is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. Over the past three years, he led global evidence generation activities for the approval and reimbursement of pharmaceutical drugs in the ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and oncology therapeutic areas at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Before Takeda, Corey held roles of increasing responsibility in the real world evidence group at IQVIA, and in the upper aerodigestive oncology group at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He obtained his MPH from the Boston University School of Public Health and his Bachelors of Science in Public and Community Health from the University of Maryland. His research interests are in the intersection of causal inference and machine learning methodologies.

Michael is currently a part-time MPH student and a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow, with a focus area in Addiction and Overdose.  He has spent most of his career as a pharmacist for CVS Health in the Detroit area.  Most recently, Michael has transitioned to a pharmacy advisor within their corporate office, working with a product development team in pharmacy operations.  In this role he helps research, develop, and implement new programs and initiatives with an aim to achieve better health outcomes for patients and communities. His research interests include pharmocoepidemiology and health behaviors as they relate to expanding the role of the community pharmacist in identifying and preventing addiction and overdose. 

Dr. Banda Khalifa is an award-winning physician and a doctoral (Ph.D.) student in the department of epidemiology who works as a vaccine regulatory and policy analyst at the Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC).  He was an MPH & MBA Johns Hopkins Sommer Scholar and a Center Scholar focused on epidemiology and biostatistics with a certificate in Pharmacoepidemiology from 2018 to 2020. His MBA emphasis was in health systems, finance, and management, and he graduated as a Beta Gamma Sigma (International Business Honor Society) member. Dr. Banda has led and managed teams in government and non-governmental organizations through transformations that resulted in the organization's go-big objective being realized. He joined the Ghana Armed Forces in 2014 and won the Chief of the Defense Staff Award by Ghana's president after commissioning as the overall best graduating cadet. He led the medical team for Ghana's Aviation team on four UN Peacekeeping missions. Dr. Banda worked as a manager for the Covid-19 response program within the Baltimore City Health Department.  Dr. Banda formerly served as the vaccine and health delivery advisor for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Dr. Banda received the 2022 alum impact award at the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry's 60th-anniversary celebration. His research interests include vaccination science policy, effectiveness, and outcomes research.

Gauri obtained her M.B.B.S. degree from G.S. Medical College in India. During her medical school she obtained clinical research and data analysis experience when she conducted research to study the association of premenstrual syndrome with sleep quality. She is currently pursuing her Master of Science Epidemiology degree from JHSPH. She is working part time as a Research Assistant with the ‘Implementation Science and HIV Research’ team where she works on understanding the impact of different forms of ART, PREP and other interventions on HIV affected population and population at risk for HIV in Low- and Middle-income countries. Her thesis focuses on the associates and correlates of Syringe Service Program and Opioid Substitution Therapy among intravenous drug users in India. Her career interest includes working as an epidemiologist for pharmaceutical firms that focus on HIV-medication related drug research and development.

Jeongmin (Hana) Kim completed her Doctor of Pharmacy at Mass. College of Pharmacy in Boston.  After graduating, she worked at a Clinical Study Unit and pharmacovigilance/medical information in the pharmaceutical industry in Korea and Singapore.  While working she developed an interest in pharmacovigilance and related areas.  Currently, she is completing her ScM in the Department of Epidemiology concentrating on pharmacoepidemiology.

Kyungah is currently a part-time MPH student. Prior to Hopkins, Kyungah obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Purdue University and worked as a pharmacist in retail and hospital settings. She then worked as a researcher at a drug safety and consulting company participating in prescription-to-OTC switch safety analysis, drug benefit-risk assessment, Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies assessments, and adverse event analysis to evaluate safety signals. Her areas of interest include pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory science.

Shanshan Lin is a masters student in the general epidemiology and methodology track. She completed her Bachelor of Medicine, majoring in Preventive Medicine from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China in 2020. Her research has focused on clinical epidemiology about liver disease, especially liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. She is currently a research assistant in the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, and the Johns Hopkins Hospital with research interests focusing on the safety, use and effectiveness of cardiovascular medications by exploring claims and electronic health records databases. Her research interests also include the use of statistical techniques in the field of precision medicine for the individualized decision-making.
 

Morgan earned her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from Monmouth University in May 2021. She is currently an MHS student in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to Hopkins, she gained work experience in pharmaceuticals at Pfizer as a Sourcing Operations Coordinator where she maintained trackers for investigator payments and retrieved Clinical Trial Agreements. She also conducted external research for the company where she researched site specific COVID-19 related hospitalizations by state and country and compared protocols for these different regions. Her research interests lie in pharmacoepidemiology, drug utilization and clinical trials.

Aster Meche is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. For the past four years, she worked at Pfizer Inc where she supported real-world evidence generation activities for pharmaceutical drugs in development and post approval, specifically in oncology and inflammation and immunology therapeutic areas. Aster obtained her MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and her Bachelors of Science in Public Health Sciences from University of California, Irvine. Her research interests include measures of quality of care, pharmacy access, utilization to medications, and treatment effectiveness.

Dr. Yidnekachew is a dynamic medical doctor from Ethiopia with extensive experience as a front-line physician treating COVID-19 ICU patients. He is also honors society at Johns Hopkins MPH-MBA program, having earned the distinction of being a Sommer Scholar and a Reed Frost Scholar.  He is a passionate healthcare leader and researcher, advocating for health equity at multiple levels and positively impacting the world. He has been recognized for his leadership and contributions to youth issues, receiving awards from organizations such as the Packard Foundation and Women Deliver. Additionally, he was awarded the 2019 ECFMG FAIMER award for outstanding contributions to youth, community health, and wellbeing. His innovative spirit is demonstrated in his work as the inaugural grantee of the Johns Hopkins Global Surgical Initiative, investigating factors associated with the compliance and completeness of surgical safety checklists. As a cell and gene therapy enthusiast, he has also been involved with leading biopharma companies such as Vertex and Merck

Kriti Rastogi completed her Bachelor of Science at Emory University in 2022, where she majored in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Psychology. While at Emory, she studied early signs of behavioral alterations following repeated general anesthesia exposure in infancy at the Emory National Primate Research Center. In her work, she developed a deeper curiosity for the behavioral effects of other drugs, sparking an interest in behavioral pharmacology. Kriti will begin her Master of Health Science degree in Mental Health at JHSPH, where she is interested in behavioral pharmacology research and exploring public health approaches to treating substance use disorder. 

Michelle is currently a full-time MPH student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Michelle obtained her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at Concordia University Wisconsin School of Pharmacy.  She currently works in the retail pharmacy setting.  She has research interest in addressing health disparities and inequalities as it pertains to medication adherence and management, patient outcomes and drug pricing concerns.  She also has an interest in developing policies that target vulnerable populations to improve access to care.

Rediet Tekalign is a current full-time MPH student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Before attending Hopkins, Rediet received her MD from St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She worked as a general practitioner in the infectious disease unit of St. Paul's Hospital, focusing on pediatric patients affected with HIV/AIDS for one and half years. She was also the quality officer and focal point for the pediatrics department. Her research interest includes pharmacoepidemiology, clinical trials, biologic drug safety, and effectiveness in pediatrics.

Astha completed her B.D.S (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) from M.M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, India and completed her MBA from IMT-Ghaziabad, India. While practicing as an oral health care provider, she has also worked on research projects related to oral cancers wherein she studied the correlation of subjective and objective swallowing outcomes in oral cancers following free flap reconstruction and also the preoperative prediction of extracapsular spread (ECS) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. Currently she is pursuing her ScM in Epidemiology and her thesis research focuses on studying the relationship of antibiotic resistance with pneumococcus serotype (PCV-13 vaccine type and non-vaccine type) in children hospitalized with suspected pneumonia (in India) and comparing it with community carriage in India. Her research and career interests lie in pharmaceutical consulting, vaccine science and real-world safety and effectiveness of therapeutics.

Daniel Willie-Permor is a Ghanaian-trained physician with over nine (9) years of practice; his most recent station being the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital. He is also the founder of the healthcare company GLOSAWEL Healthcare, primarily focused on developing digital health technologies to enhance access to quality healthcare.  He is currently enrolled in the full-time MPH program (Epidemiology/Biostatistics track).  He is a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, and currently the Co-President of the Digital Health Society at the Bloomberg School.  He has special interests in digital health, biostatistics, cardiovascular & clinical epidemiology, clinical trials, and pharmacology. He hopes to gain further insights and training in establishing best practices for the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the drug discovery/manufacturing process.

Xuya Xiao (Rayna) is currently an MHS student in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to Hopkins, she received a B.S in Pharmaceutical Administration from China Pharmaceutical University in 2021. She led a project exploring China's pharmacovigilance system and participated in a project which aimed to verify whether medical insurance affects doctors’ induced demand behavior. Rayna's research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, drug safety, and drug utilization.

Lijuan Zeng is a PhD student in Epidemiology. She previously worked at Statistics Collaborative, Inc. for several years as a biostatistician, providing statistical services regarding study designs and analyses of clinical research to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. She also served as an independent reporting statistician for Data and Safety Monitoring Boards for mainly industry-sponsored phases 2 and 3 clinical trials. Lijuan obtained her MHS in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Science from Fudan University. Her research interest includes design and conduct of clinical trials, benefit-risk assessments, and pharmacoepidemiology.

Enoch Abbey graduated with a MPH from JHSPH. Prior to matriculation at Hopkins he had 4 years of experience as an Emergency Room Physician. Dr. Abbey graduated from the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is a member of the Global Alliance of Perioperative Professionals and International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology students. Current research interests include; affordable medicines for the Low and Middle Income countries, the Health and Economic effects of counterfeit drugs and Emergency Healthcare.

Ekta Agarwal graduated with a MPH from JHSPH. Ekta is a physician and has a diverse experience working as health care personnel in domestic and international settings. Prior to coming to Hopkins she worked with the New Jersey Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission for children with disabilities and ASD. Ekta interned at the Kennedy Krieger Institute for a Data Resource Mapping Project, a joint venture of the DHMH and MCDD. At the school, her work focused on finding an association between adherence to NOACs and GI bleeding in patients with Atrial Fibrillation. Her interests included Pharmacovigilance and Post- Marketing drug safety. She also pursued a Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy and Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

Kathleen (Kayte) Andersen defended her doctoral work on December 3, 2021. She focused her doctoral work on the use, safety, and effectiveness of medications among adults hospitalized with COVID in the United States. From 2014-2016, she worked at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, NY where she was the leading research coordinator for a multicenter observational cohort study. Kayte completed a Masters of Science at McGill University in August 2018, focused on drug utilization patterns in dementia using population-level primary care data.  

Shirin Ardeshirrouhanifard holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, and completed MPH (Epidemiology) and PhD in Epidemiology (minor in human genetics) at Indiana University. Before joining Johns Hopkins, she studied adverse health outcomes related to chemotherapeutic agents in long-term cancer survivors using a multi-center cohort study. Her research interests included pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacogenetic epidemiology in cancer survivors using large datasets.

Samuel Kwakye Ayeh graduated with a MPH from JHSPH with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Before beginning at JHSPH, he completed his medical training in the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry in February 2012, followed by two years of internship and four years working as a medical officer. His work as a medical officer was focused on primary care and obstetrics and gynecological surgeries.

Sheriza Baksh received a PhD from the Department of Epidemiology and completed a post-doctoral program in the Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis. Prior to Hopkins, Sheriza worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she conducted research on drug safety for generic antiepileptic drugs, nanotechnology drug products, and parenteral drugs. Through this research, she worked with claims data, adverse events reports, and clinical trial data. After four years at the FDA, Sheriza joined the Department of Epidemiology as a PhD student concentrating in Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis with a Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy. Her interests lie at the intersection of regulatory policy and pharmacoepidemiology. 

Daniah Basodan completed her MPH at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to attending Hopkins, Daniah received her MBBS degree from King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia in 2009. She then completed her residency and fellowship training at McGill University at the Montreal Children’s Hospital where she obtained Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada board certification in pediatrics (2015) and pediatric rheumatology (2017). Her research interest includes pharmacoepidemiology, biologic drug safety and effectiveness in pediatric populations and adherence to treatment in chronic pediatric conditions.

Chelsea Canan received a PhD from the Department of Epidemiology as a pre-doctoral fellow in the HIV Training Program. Prior to attending JHSPH, she worked in clinical research and earned a Master of Public Health with a concentration in biostatistics. She has an interest in pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety and is conducting dissertation research on the use and misuse of prescription opioids among HIV-infected individuals in the United States.

Jessica Chasler received a MPH from JHSPH. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and completed a two-year pharmacy residency program in Pharmacotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She currently works as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Adult Cardiology. Her interests include pharmacoepidemiology and health disparities with regards to access to medications.

Lian-Yu Chen received a PhD from the Department of Mental Health. She received her MD from National Chung Kung University in Taiwan in 2006 and received psychiatric residency training in Taipei City Psychiatric Center from 2006-2010. She earned Taiwanese Board Certification in Psychiatry in 2010. After her residency training, she joined JHSPH to pursue her PhD. While in training at the school, Dr. Chen's research interests focused on evaluating the service utilization among those with substance use disorder (SUD) and psychiatric comorbidities. Additionally, she investigated prescription stimulant abuse (Adderall®) in the United States. She has won several awards and honors including the Sommer Scholarship in 2012, NIDA Women & Sex/Gender Junior Investigator Travel Award in 2012, and Clinical Excellence Award in Taipei City Psychiatric Center in 2009.

Francine graduated with a MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to attending JHSPH, she completed a Bachelors of Science at the University of Toronto, specializing in Pharmacology. Her broad research interests involved prescription drug abuse and the utilization of generic medicines. She has recently completed work on a systematic review comparing biosimilars to their innovator biologics.

Stacy Elder received a MPH from JHSPH. Prior to Hopkins, Stacy graduated from the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy and completed a two-year Pharmacotherapy Residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. After spending some time in academia, Stacy returned to the Johns Hopkins Hospital as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and recently transitioned to the Assistant Director of Decentralized and Clinical Pharmacy Services at The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Stacy's  interests include population health and pharmacoepidemiology.

Matthew Daubresse received a DrPH in Epidemiology from JHSPH. Matthew obtained his MHS from the JHSPH Department of Health, Behavior and Society in 2010 and went on to work as a program evaluator at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Center for Chronic Disease Prevention. In 2013, Matthew returned to JHSPH to work as a data research analyst in the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness where he has worked extensively with large claims databases and contributed to a variety of studies examining trends in prescription drug utilization.

Mindi received a MSPH in the Department of International Health. Prior to attending Hopkins, she received her BS in Biology at the University of Minnesota, and worked as a health data analyst for International Medical Corps on the Ebola virus team before moving to Baltimore. Her areas of interest include pharmacoepidemiology and drug utilization and access among underserved populations and LMICs. 

Leigh Efird received a MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a Pharmacy Practice residency at Virginia Commonwealth University and a PGY2 Internal Medicine residency at Grady Health System. She currently practices in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Through her work in direct patient care she has the opportunity to influence medication use in the acute care setting which is heavily focused on exacerbations of chronic disease states. She continues to expand her focus of improving medication adherence during the transition of patients back to the outpatient setting through involvement in patient education of high risk medications, medication reconciliation, and other transitional services.

Ijeamaka Ezebilo received a MPH from JHSPH. She received her medical degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Ghana after which she worked as a physician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Ghana Police Hospital. Ijeamaka’s interests lie in pharmacoepidemiology, drug safety and effectiveness and clinical research.

Kevin Fain graduated with a DrPH in the Department of Epidemiology. His research examined the application of law, policy, and epidemiologic methods for FDA’s regulation of prescription drug safety. He currently is researching FDA’s implementation of post-marketing drug safety authorities, including Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), and the health effects from opioid prescribing in elderly adults. Kevin previously worked as an attorney at FDA for 15 years, where he litigated cases for food and drug safety and counseled the agency on human and animal drug legal issues. He earned his MPH and Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2011.

Haley Gibbs received a MPH from Johns Hopkins, a Doctor of Pharmacy at Auburn University and completed a Pharmacy Practice residency at University of Illinois at Chicago and a Critical Care PGY2 residency at the Medical University of South Carolina. She now practices clinical pharmacy at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Neurocritical Care Unit. As a pharmacist working in an academic medical center, she has a unique opportunity to participate in the optimization of medication therapy for critically ill patients, as drug safety and efficacy are high priorities in patient care. In addition, she has a particular interest in resource utilization, especially as it relates to medication therapy and therapeutic drug monitoring. With rising health care costs, resource utilization is becoming an important area for research for public health.

Gillian Gresham received a PhD from the Department of Epidemiology. She holds a master’s degree in epidemiology and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Ottawa, Canada. Her broad interests in comparative effectiveness research, randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses emerge from her past work and research experiences in these areas. During her doctoral training, she has focused on evidence synthesis, patient-centered outcomes research, the analysis of adverse events in clinical trials and benefit-harm assessment methods. She was also an active teaching assistant in the clinical trials course series offered at JHSPH.

Mengdong He graduated with a MHS from the Department of Epidemiology. Mengdong has a bachelor of medicine degree in traditional Chinese medicine with 5-year theoretical and clinical training. During her first year study at Hopkins, she developed an interest in the research of drug use as well as its beneficial and adverse effects in post-market settings. Mengdong investigated the impact of opioids use on the adherence of unrelated chronic condition medication and explored the health effects of hormone replacement therapy.

Catherine Hwang received a MSPH from the Department of International Health. With past research experience in chemistry, pharmacology, and clinical trials, Catherine explored the policy and regulatory aspects surrounding prescription drug utilization during her training. Her current work examines the extent to which abuse-deterrent opioid formulations will realistically shift the landscape of the prescription drug abuse epidemic in the United States. The past summer, she was an Epi Scholar at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where she identified trends, patterns, and disparities in controlled substance prescriptions in order to better understand this epidemic.

Geetha received a ScM from the Department of Epidemiology, a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from India with 5 years theoretical and clinical training, followed by MD in Pharmacology (3 years). She completed her dissertation on pharmacologic management of respiratory infections in pediatric patients. She worked for two years as an Assistant Professor in a medical college training undergraduate medical students in Pharmacology. Geetha's research interests include post marketing effectiveness and safety of drugs as well as utilization of drugs. In the course of her MD dissertation, she developed interest in pharmaco-epidemiological studies. Geetha would like to combine the knowledge of her training as a physician with that of epidemiology gained at Johns Hopkins to best answer questions regarding drug effectiveness and safety.

Shiyin Jiao received a MHS in General Epidemiology and Methodology, with a focus on Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. Prior to joining JHSPH, she graduated from Emory University Magna Cum Laude with a major in Biology and a minor in Mathematics. She worked as a research trainee at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, conducting extensive literature review and data analysis on a project investigating the association between hospital teaching status and patient outcomes. Through a year of intensive coursework training here and a broad spectrum of past internship experiences in labs, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies including J&J and Pfizer, she has developed a keen interest in patient-centered outcomes, comparative effectiveness research, medication safety and policy implications. For her dissertation, she examined the quality of pharmaceutical care involving different professional disciplines using a nationally representative dataset.

Sindhura Karlapudi received a MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She completed her medical school at Dr. Pinnamaneni Institute of Medical Sciences, India in 2015. She was a practicing clinician for a year when she decided to pursue a Masters in Public Health due to her interest in preventive health care. She entered the 2020 MPH cohort at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health concentrating in Epidemiology/Biostatistics. Her interest in pharmacoepidemiology stems for working as an intern in a pharmaceutical company to identify unmet needs of patients regarding specific medications to improve quality.

Taruja Karmarkar received a PhD in the Health Economics and Policy program in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She concentrated in Economic Evaluation with an interest in decision modeling methods, pharmacoeconomics, and the implications of these methods on policy. Taruja holds an MHS degree in Health Economics, from JHSPH, with a concentration in Comparative Effectiveness and Outcomes Research. She also completed the certificate in Quality, Patient Safety & Outcomes Research while working on a project with physicians in the Outcomes After Critical Illness and Surgery Group (OACIS). Taruja serves as a Reviewer for the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry at the Center for Evaluation and Risk in Health at the Tufts Medical Center. Prior to coming to JHSPH, she received a BA in Economics from New York University.

Chris Kaufmann received a PhD in the Department of Mental Health. He was a pre-doctoral fellow on the Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program, a T32 training grant sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Chris’s research interests include trends in the use of psychiatric medications in older adults, the potential adverse health outcomes and health service utilization associated with the use of these medications, the impact of national and regulatory policies on the utilization and prescribing of these medications, and whether these policies can minimize the occurrence of adverse health outcomes in this population. His dissertation focused on the use of sedative-hypnotic medications in older adults, and examined how the exclusion of benzodiazepines from reimbursement after the implementation of Medicare Part D, as well as the recent introduction of non-benzodiazepine sleep-aids (e.g. zolpidem, zaleplon, eszopiclone), has impacted prescribing trends to older adults. He also examined the impact of these events on the occurrence of adverse health outcomes and health service utilization among elderly patients.

Shelby Kemper received a MPH from Johns Hopkins. Shelby is pharmacist with experience in retail, clinical and hospice care in the public and private sector. She was most recently the Pharmacy Director of a hospice pharmacy and focused on end-of-life care and pain management. Prior to attending Hopkins, Shelby founded and directed a non-profit, CU Peru, in the Peruvian Amazon that educates rural community health care workers with the focus of decreasing under-5 child mortality. She is interested in improving access and utilization of pharmaceuticals in low and middle oncome countries and the factors that influence these disparities.

Martha Kirabo received a MPH from JHSPH as a Fogarty Fellow. She completed medical school at Makerere University in Uganda and graduated in 2017. After her internship, she worked as a clinical trials doctor and safety officer at the Uganda Case Western Research Collaboration. Her roles included recruiting and monitoring study patients, adverse event reporting and management. Martha has also written grants and led projects in increasing family planning uptake in rural Uganda. Currently her research interests are in infectious disease dynamics, pharmacoepidemiology and evidence synthesis.

Zaina Kiragu received a MPH from JHSPH. Prior to attending Hopkins, Zaina graduated from the University of Manchester School of Pharmacy with a Master of Pharmacy and undertook her pre-registration pharmacy training with AstraZeneca UK and University Hospitals of South Manchester (UHSM). Zaina most recently worked in a Kenyan pharmaceutical company based in Nairobi and has practice experience in retail and hospital pharmacy settings in Kenya as well. Zaina's interests lie in pharmacoeconomics and pharmaceutical systems strengthening in low and middle-income countries, with a view to improve drug access, utilization and management.  

Kimberley Lee received a MHS in Epidemiology from JHSPH. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, completed Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview and is currently a Medical Oncology fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her research interests includes pharmacoepidemiology and disparities in utilization, effectiveness, and toxicity of medications used to treat cancer. 

Seoyoung (Celina) Lee 

Yi-Chen Liu received a MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to Hopkins, she completed a Bachelors of Science at the National Taiwan University, specializing in Pharmacy. Yi-Chen’s research interests include comparative effectiveness research, pharmacovigilance and patient-oriented outcomes research. She investigated medication use in adults with end-stage renal disease.

Xintong Li is completed her MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to Hopkins, she received her BSc in Global Health Studies at Wuhan University in China. Xintong's research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, drug safety, effectiveness, and utilization. Her work was focused on exploring the utilization and safety of biologic products with large claims databases.

Eleanor Lucas is received her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Eleanor is an analyst at a Health Economics Outcomes Research consulting firm and previously worked as a Research Program Coordinator at the CDSE. Her research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, drug development and market access, and systematic literature reviews. 

Nune Makarova received a MPH from Johns Hopkins. Prior to completing her MPH, Nune obtained her MD degree from the Moscow Medical Academy in 2006. After completing the residency, she worked as an endocrinologist for 2 years.  Before applying for the MPH Nune worked as a Regulatory Affairs head for Novartis Pharma and Oncology Russia. In parallel, she was involved in the successful national legislative lobbying activities, which were aimed to improve the safety of Russian drug regulation and provide patients with greater access to biologics and orphan drugs. Her areas of interest include patient-provider communication, pharmacoepidemiology,  and pharmacoeconomics. 

Omar obtained a MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to JHSPH, he graduated from Macalester College in St, Paul, MN with a major in Biology and a minor in Statistics. Omar’s research interests include pharmacovigilance, the use of specialty drugs, comparative effectiveness research, and epidemiological methods in pharmacological research. He is currently working on quantifying inpatient utilization trends for high cost pharmaceutical products and assessing factors associated with hospital’s administration of high cost medications.

Sathiya Priya Marimuthu was a post doctoral fellow in clinical pharmacology and pharmacoepidemiology who completed her MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. She completed her medical degree in India and has clinical and research experience. Sathiya was involved in cancer epidemiology projects at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY. Before coming to Hopkins, she worked as a drug safety and pharmacovigilance specialist. Her research interests includes medication safety in patients with multiple chronic conditions, post-marketing surveillance, and pharmacoepidemiology.

Kathryn completed a MPH with focuses in epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, and health policy. Prior to attending JHSPH, Kathryn graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa with her doctorate of pharmacy and a concentration in global and comparative public health. Her research and academic interests lie within pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, and pharmaceutical policy that influence access to and cost of prescription drugs.

Alex completed a Masters in the Department of International Health. Prior to attending Hopkins, he studied chemistry at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in analytical development and in regulatory affairs. His main interests focus on drug utilization and adherence, specifically within HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapies for treating HIV. Of additional interest are the structural and social factors affecting uptake and adherence to these regimens.

Morgane Mouslim is a post-doctorate in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Pharmacoepidemiology Training Program and received a Master of Science (ScM) in Epidemiology with a focus on methodology. Prior to coming to Hopkins, she received her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Michigan State University. Her current research interests focus on how formulary restrictions and reimbursement policies affect medication access and utilization.

Joelynn Muwanga completed the MPH program. Prior to Johns Hopkins, Joelynn completed a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences, majoring in Pharmacology from Makerere University, Uganda in 2017. She served as an intern at the National Chemotherapeutics Research Institute, the major herbal research center in Uganda and later started a research assistant position with the International Center for Child Health and Development at Washington University in St. Louis, where she has worked on various studies among vulnerable populations affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. While at WashU, she also served as a program coordinator for a Preventive Medicine residency program at the School of Medicine (specialization in general preventive medicine and public health). Joelynn's research interests include drug utilization research in chronic disease management.

Remington Nevin received his MD from the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in 2002 and his MPH from Johns Hopkins in 2004. He returned to Johns Hopkins to earn his DrPH in 2016 following a career in the U.S. Army where he served as a Preventive Medicine physician, including on overseas tours in Afghanistan and Africa. During his military career, Remington's research into the adverse neuropsychiatric effects of the U.S. Army-developed antimalarial drug mefloquine, and his work to raise awareness of its widespread prescribing among deployed personnel with mental health contraindications, contributed to the U.S. military’s decision to deprioritize its use as a drug of “last resort,” and directly informed recent FDA-approved label changes which included a new boxed warning of potential long-term mental health effects. Remington testified to the U.S. Senate on these effects confounding diagnosis and management in military service members and veterans of neuropsychiatric disorders including PTSD and TBI. In 2014 he was awarded the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Outstanding Recent Graduate award for his research and advocacy work in this area. While a resident in Occupational Medicine, Remington continues his research with a focus on issues in drug safety and pharmacovigilance in occupational settings.

Richard Nudotor graduated with a MPH from JHSPH. Prior to beginning at Hopkins, he graduated from the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry with Bsc. Medical Science in 2010 and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2014. Richard has 4 years of professional experience as a general practitioner at Koforidua Regional Hospital where he was a medical officer at the HAART clinic working with people living with HIV/AIDS. He is pursuing certificates in Clinical Trials and also in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. He is involved in Surgical Outcome Mentorship at the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Ken Ogasawara graduated with a Masters in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Prior to JHSPH, he received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Kyoto University, Japan and worked in a pharmaceutical industry.  He has background in pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics and molecular biology and an interest in pharmacoepidemiology.

Gaurvika Nayyar received an MPH/MBA at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health & Carey Business School. Prior to Hopkins, Gaurvika worked at the National Institutes of Health conducting research on antimalarial drug resistance, pharmaceutical regulation policy, malnutrition, and counterfeiting in low and middle income countries. Her research to better understand the extent of poor quality antimalarials in South East Asia & Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely covered by BBC, NYT, Reuters, CNN & Others. Most recently, Gaurvika has been a summer associate at Johnson & Johnson’s Global Commercial Strategy Operations for pharmaceutical products and an intern at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While in training at the school, she worked on a wide range of products & programs across disease areas with a special focus in emerging markets.

David Procaccini completed his MPH at Johns Hopkins. David is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Cardiology, and Pediatric Anticoagulation services at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is heavily involved with quality improvement and clinical research, specifically in the areas of anticoagulation and sedation.  He is a clinical consultant for drug companies who manufacture pediatric-specific formulations of FDA approved medications and work to standardize formularies amongst pharmacies who care for pediatric populations.  In addition, Dr. Procaccini is the pediatric representative in the Clinical Pharmacology Committee for The American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiology.  He precepts pharmacy students from around the country, and serves as a pharmacy leader and educator for physicians, pharmacists, and nurses.

Lucy Qiao completed a PhD in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to Hopkins, she worked at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) in Toronto, Canada. At CCO, she worked with the provincial drug reimbursement programs and conducted population-based studies evaluating the real-world safety and effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs funded through the New Drug Funding Program in Ontario. Lucy's research interests include pharmacoepidemiology and epidemiological methodologies that can be applied in pharmacoepidemiology research. 

Emaan received an MHS in Epidemiology with a concentration in Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley in 2019. Before coming to Hopkins, Emaan worked for the California Department of Public Health where she developed a case classification algorithm in SAS to count Chronic Hepatitis B Cases and assessed the timeliness of post-vaccination serologic testing in infants enrolled in the Perinatal Hepatitis B Program. Her research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, drug safety, and drug utilization. 

Kevin Riggs is a research fellow in the Johns Hopkins Division of General Internal Medicine, and Hecht-Levi Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. His research interests include clinical ethics, and the ethics and effectiveness of cost-containment strategies. He is currently researching the effect of drug coupons on costs and adherence. He earned his Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed his medical degree and internal medicine residency at Duke University. 

Cindy obtained a MPH from Johns Hopkins. Prior to attending Hopkins, she received her Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and worked for over six years in various roles in hospital pharmacy and in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa with a major focus on improving access to innovative medicines. Her areas of interest include pharmacoepidemiology, and improving access among underserved populations and low and middle-income countries.

Marissa Seamans was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Mental Health. Marissa received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017 and joined the Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program as a postdoctoral fellow in the JHSPH Department of Mental Health. Her work focuses on using large healthcare databases to explore patterns of prescription opioid use and polypharmacy within social networks and applying methods for causal inference to address spillover effects of pharmaceutical treatments.

Alex Secora completed a PhD in Epidemiology and was a trainee in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Training Program. Prior to Hopkins, Alex worked in the Division of Epidemiology of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology. At FDA, Alex conducted postmarket drug safety evaluations, reviewed pharmacoepidemiology protocols and study data, and developed methodological frameworks for studying various drug safety outcomes. Alex still holds a part-time position at FDA. Alex's broad research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, epidemiological and biostatistical methods development in the context of pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacology, and electronic health care databases.

Ashton Shaffer completed her PhD in Epidemiology in the MD-PhD program. Her research was in the epidemiology of organ transplant and focused on donors and recipients with infections like HIV and hepatitis C. One of the primary datasets she used comes from an IMS Health linkage, and all of her studies included complex drug regimens for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis C, and/or transplant-related immunosuppression.

Mariana Socal received her PhD from the Department of International Health. Mariana is a Neurologist with clinical experience in the public and private health care systems in Brazil, where she used to work with the public health administration on evidence-based decision-making for the provision of medicines. During that period she also collaborated with local state attorneys in responding to legal claims for access to medicines. Since then Mariana has become interested in researching ways to improve access and utilization of medicines for persons with chronic diseases in low- and middle-income countries. After graduating with a Master’s in Public Policy from Princeton University, Mariana joined the Doctoral Program in Health Systems at the Department of International Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jingwen Tan received a ScM from the Department of Epidemiology and obtained the Certificates in Risk Sciences and Public Policy, and Public Health Informatics. After graduating with a BS degree in Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology from UCLA, Jingwen conducted laboratory surveillance for respiratory viral pathogens during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, before attending JHSPH. She currently interns at the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology in the Food and Drug Administration where she helps coordinate the post-marketing surveillance pilot program for the Sentinel Initiative. She is interested in the epidemiology of drug-induced morbidity and mortality using electronic databases.

Sangeeta Tandon received a MPH from Johns Hopkins. Currently she serves as an Operations Manager in the Critical Care Pharmacy at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where she participates in optimizing the operational process in the hospital as well as has a clinical component in optimizing drug therapy. Prior to Hopkins, Sangeeta was a Fulbright scholar conducting research in sub-Saharan Africa looking at measuring adherence in low income countries, teaching a health policy course on drug regulation, and conducting pharmacologic monitoring research of nontraditional medications. Her interests are in effectiveness research and looks to find ways to improve pharmaceutical access abroad.

Sarah Tanveer graduated from the interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Public Health Biology program. She completed her undergraduate degree at University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to enrolling into the Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Certificate program, Sarah conducted research on neurological disorders and was a research assistant at Georgetown University (PI: Dr. Oyegbile). Her research and academic interests lie within evidence based medicine, comparative effectiveness research, implementation science, pharmacoepidemiology, and evidence synthesis. Her thesis paper focused on the biological underpinnings of chronic migraine.

Carolyn Tieu graduated with a MPH with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics from Johns Hopkins. Prior to Hopkins, Carolyn received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and has a robust range of clinical experiences in both hospital institutions and home infusion. Her areas of research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, comparative effectiveness research, and patient outcomes research.

Phuong Tran graduated with a MPH from Johns Hopkins. She received MPH Yang and Hume Scholarships and Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) Fellowship, Cohort 2016. Phuong Tran got her PharmD degree in Viet Nam. Her thesis was about a preclinical phase of an anti-epilepsy drug development on mouse models. After that, she worked 2 years in pharmaceutical industry as a medical representative and marketer in multinational companies such as Sanofi-Aventis and Laboratoire Aguettant. She is interested in drug safety, effects of genetic variation on drug effects and epidemiology of cancer genetics and epigenetics.

Chinenye Ugoji received a PhD in Epidemiology. She obtained her MPH degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and her Pharmacy degree from University of Benin, Nigeria. Prior to Hopkins, she worked at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland where she led the development and implementation of Nigeria’s national Healthcare Quality management program (NigeriaQual) and first National Quality Improvement collaborative. She has done substantial work in developing, implementing and evaluating HIV programs, including interventions to improve antiretroviral treatment adherence and retention in care. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of drug utilization, drug safety, Quality of care and patient-centered outcomes in HIV and Cancer. 

Siddhi Umarje received a ScM in Epidemiology from JHSPH, focused on cardiovascular and clinical epidemiology. Siddhi obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy from India in 2018. In 2017, Siddhi completed a thesis titled ‘Statin therapy: Risk assessment, Dosing and Patient Adherence.’ This study was presented at an international conference and has won the first prize for ‘Best Poster Presentation’ in February 2018. She was a full-time intern clinical pharmacist at Bharati Hospital & Research Center in India from May 2017 to May 2018. She was actively involved in activities such as pharmacotherapy management, identification, assessment and management of adverse drug reactions, drug-drug reactions and medication errors. Her research interests include comparative safety and effectiveness of drugs, adverse drug reactions and pharmacovigilance.

Shilpa Viswanathan completed a PhD in Epidemiology. After interning at Novartis and UNICEF, Shilpa earned an MS in Pharmacy Administration, then worked as a health outcomes analyst for two years before joining Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. As a doctoral student, Shilpa’s interests include post-marketing drug safety and effectiveness, the epidemiology and treatment of autoimmune disorders, and pediatric health care and access to essential medicines in developing countries. Her doctoral dissertation uses methods from Pharmacoepidemiology to answer the question of optimal adherence to HAART in the current era of HIV treatment.

Amelia Wallace completed a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to Hopkins, she worked at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) in Durham, North Carolina in the Outcomes/Health Services Research group. At DCRI, she was a lead analyst for several large clinical registries, and conducted research on quality and safety in cardiothoracic surgery. Her research interests include diabetes, chronic kidney disease, pharmacoepidemiology, and pharmacoeconomics.

Jiajun Wen completed a ScD in Epidemiology with a concentration in Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis. He obtained his MD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and his MPH from University of Nebraska Medical Center. His areas of interest include utilization and safety of cancer immune checkpoint inhibitors, topics in systematic review, and generalizability of trial results. He has substantial experience with systematic review and meta-analysis, claims data, and clinical trial data.

Yunwen Xu obtained a MHS in General Epidemiology and Methodology at Johns Hopkins. Prior to Hopkins, she received a five-year training in preventive medicine, and got her bachelor's degree from Fudan University in China. She has had rich working experiences serving in a variety of settings, including research institutions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and the Center of Disease Control in Shanghai. Her areas of interest include pharmacoepidemiology, drug utilization and outcomes research.

Jeffrey Yu obtained a MHS in Health Economics in the Department of Health Policy & Management. Prior to Hopkins, Jeffrey worked in economic consulting at Boston Health Economics (BHE) where he assessed and communicated the value of pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device products through health economic modeling (e.g., cost-effectiveness, budgetary impact, social value, economically justifiable price), as well as healthcare data analytics. Interests include drug development, drug value, and healthcare decision-making. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. Jeffrey received his AB in Economics and Biology from Bowdoin College (where he also examined drivers of tooth organogenesis in zebrafish).

Hanzhe Zhang received a MHS in Epidemiology, concentrating in General Epidemiology and Methodology. Prior to JHSPH, he received his BA in Public Health Studies at JHU. He previously worked on survival analysis for an active surveillance project involving prostate cancer patients, which monitors low grade cancer patients as an alternative to invasive treatment. His areas of interest include pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, and pharmacoeconomics. 

Meijia Zhou received a MHS in the Department of Epidemiology. Meija specialized in Pharmacology and majored in Economics for her undergraduate studies at University of Toronto, where she also accumulated some laboratory experience. She received her Master of Health Science Program in General Epidemiology and Methodology, in which she will continue to research drug utilization. Meija examined the prescribing trends of different therapeutic classes of antihypertensive medications and trends of fixed dose combination therapies in the United States using a national representative sample. Over the summer of 2013, she examined the safety of novel anticoagulants compared to warfarin using claims data.