Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Ron Goetzel, PhD, MA, studies the relationship between employee health and well-being, medical costs, and workplace productivity.
Research Interests
workplace health promotion; wellnesss programs; worksite; health risks; return on investment; applied social psychology; evaluation research; prevention; health promotion; workplace
Experiences & Accomplishments
Ron Goetzel is Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The mission of the IHPS is to bridge the gap between academia, the business community, and the healthcare policy world – bringing academic resources into policy debates and day-to-day business decisions, and bringing health and productivity management issues into academia. Before moving to Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Goetzel was on the faculty at Emory and Cornell Universities. Dr. Goetzel is responsible for leading innovative projects for healthcare purchaser, managed care, government, and pharmaceutical clients interested in conducting cutting-edge research focused on the relationship between health and well-being, medical costs, and work-related productivity. He is an internationally recognized and widely published expert in health and productivity management (HPM), return-on-investment (ROI), program evaluation, and outcomes research. Dr. Goetzel has published well over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and frequently presents at international business and scientific forums. Pronouns: he/him
Honors & Awards
Recipient of the Woodward Lecture Award in Recognition of Leadership and Vision in Promoting and Expanding Preventive Medicine and Population Health Improvement – U.S. Navy Environmental Health Center, Department of Defense, March 18, 2002.
Recipient of the Award for Excellence and Innovation in Value Purchasing from the National Business Group on Health, March 13, 2008, Washington, DC.
Recipient of the Mark Dundon Research Award, HERO, September 13, 2011.
Editor’s Choice Article of the Year, American Journal of Health Promotion, 2019.
Select Publications
Selected publications from the last 5 years
Goetzel RZ, Roemer EC, Kent KB, McCleary K, Berko J, Henke R. (2019) Integration of Workplace Prevention Programs and Organizational Effectiveness. In Total Worker Health® Integrated Prevention Strategies in Occupational Safety and Health. National Institutes of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH). Hudson, H; Sauter, S; Nigam, J (eds.) Total worker health (pp. 279-294). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0000149-017
Goetzel RZ, Henke RM, Head MA, Benevent R, Rhee K. Ten Modifiable Health Risk Factors and Employees’ Medical Costs – An Update. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2020, Vol. 34(5) 490-499.
Goetzel RZ, Fabius R, Roemer EC, Kent KB, Berko J, Head MA, Henke RM. The Stock Performance of American Companies Investing in a Culture of Health. American Journal of Health Promotion. (2020) 33(3) 439-447 DOI: 10.1177/0890117118824818.
Goetzel RZ, Roemer EC, Holingue C, Fallin MD, McCleary K, Eaton W, Agnew J, Azocar F, Ballard D, Bartlett J, Braga M, Conway H, Crighton KA, Frank R, Jinnett K, Keller-Greene D, Rauch SM, Safeer R, Saporito D, Schill A, Shern D, Strecher V, Wald P, Wang P, Mattingly CR. Mental Health in the Workplace: A Call to Action Proceedings from the Mental Health in the Workplace Public Health Summit. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine: December 26, 2017. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001271.
Goetzel RZ, Henke RM, Head M, Benevent R, Calitz C. Workplace Programs, Policies, and Environmental Supports to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease. Health Affairs. February 2017. 36, no.2 (2017):229-236.
Woods EH, Zhang Y, Roemer EC, Kent KK, Davis MF, Goetzel RZ. Addressing Psychosocial, Organizational, and Environmental Stressors Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic and their Effect on Essential Workers’ Mental Health and Wellbeing: A Literature Review. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. January 2023. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002802
Zhang Y, Woods EH, Roemer EC, Kent KB, Goetzel RZ. Addressing Workplace Stressors Emerging from the Pandemic. American Journal of Health Promotion. Volume 36, Issue 7, September 2022, Pages 1215-1223. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171221112488b
Roemer EC, Kent KB, Goetzel RZ, Krill J, Williams FS, Lang JE. The CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard: A Tool to Advance Workplace Health Promotion Programs and Practices. Prev Chronic Dis. 2022; 19:210375. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd19.210375.
Wu A, Roemer EC, Kent KB, Ballard DW, Goetzel RZ. Organizational Best Practices Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. December 2021 - Volume 63 - Issue 12 - p e925-e931 doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002407
Roemer EC, Kent KB, Goetzel RZ, Calitz C, Mills D. Reliability and Validity of the American Heart Association’s Workplace Health Achievement Index. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2021. 10.1177/08901171211022925.
Myburgh I, Goetzel RZ, Roemer EC, Kent KB. Why Should Businesses Support Public Health? American Journal of Health Promotion. 2021. 10.1177/08901171211009050.
Grossmeier J, Serxner SA, Montalvo T, Balfanz DR, Imboden MT, Goetzel RZ, Schweppe D. Guidance on Development of Employer Value Dashboards. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2020, Vol. 34(4) 447-465.
Angell SY, McConnell MV, Anderson CAM, Bibbins-Domingo K, Boyle DS, Capewell S, Ezzati M, De Ferranti S, Gaskin DJ, Goetzel RZ, Huffman MD, Jones M; Khan YM, MD, Kim S, Kumanyika SK, McCray AT, Merritt RK, Milstein B, Mozaffarian D, Norris T, Roth GA, Sacco RL, Saucedo JF, Shay CM, Siedzik D; Saha S, Warner JJ. The American Heart Association 2030 Impact Goal: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2020;141: e000–e000. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000758
Lang JE, Mummert A, Roemer EC, Kent KB, Matson Koffman D, Goetzel RZ. The CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard: An Assessment Tool to Promote Employee Health and Well-being. In The Art of Health Promotion, Revisiting Organizational Health Scorecards. 34:3; 319-321. American Journal of Health Promotion. March 2020.
Goetzel RZ. Designing and Implementing Successful Workplace Health and Well-Being Initiatives. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2020, Vol. 34(1) 105-118.
Goetzel RZ, Henke RM, Roemer EC, Kent K, McCleary K, Head M. Response to ‘‘To Harness the Power of Cultural Support, We Must Differentiate Between the Culture of Health Concept and Traditional Wellness Programming.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. May 2019 - Volume 61 - Issue 5 - p E234-235.