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Office of Public Health Practice and Training

Award-Winning Faculty

Faculty practice awards are given annually by the Office of Public Health Practice and Training in recognition of outstanding public health practice efforts. Read more about our award-winning faculty below.

Excellence in U.S. Public Health Practice

Mariana Socal, MD, PhD

Partner Organization: California Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Socal partnered with the California Department of Health and Human Services (CA-DHHS) on the “CalRx” initiative to launch the first state-sponsored low-cost insulins, at 90% lower prices than other insulin products currently available in the US market.

Caitlin Rivers, PhD

Partner Organization: The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Dr. Rivers has been a leader on the global and US response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including creating the Center for Health Security’s daily COVID-19 newsletter and contributing to multiple influential reports that are guiding response activities. Dr. Rivers is co-leading efforts to call for a national infectious disease modeling capability, in recognition of the important role that “outbreak science” plays in informing preparedness and response.

Keshia M. Pollack Porter, PhD 

Partner Organization: The Health Impact Project

Dr. Pollack Porter piloted the health note with the Health Impact Project and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to provide legislators with objective information on how policies in other sectors, such as housing or education, can impact health.

Elizabeth J. Letourneau, PhD 

Partner Organization: Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

Dr. Letourneau’s work on child sexual abuse prevention, specifically the unintended consequences of juvenile sex offender registration and notification policies, has been leveraged to challenge and improve juvenile sex crime policies in several U.S. states.

Excellence in International Public Health Practice

Douglas Storey, PhD, MA 

Partner Organization: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Dr. Storey served as a key member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs’ KAP COVID-19 Dashboard team, providing critical, influential and real time COVID-19 data and insights to the World Health Organization and other organizations to support communication and information dissemination across the world.

Chizoba Barbara Wonodi, MBBS, MPH, DrPH 

Partner Organization: World Health Organization (WHO) - Nigeria Country Office

Dr. Wonodi conducted evidence generation and translation to inform COVID-19 and global immunization policy and practice in Nigeria via key roles in the COVID-19 Vaccine Research Ethics (COVER) project, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership Project, and the Nigerian national technical working group on COVID-19 vaccine introduction.

Jennifer P. Nuzzo, DrPH 

Partner Organization: The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Dr. Nuzzo led the development of the Global Health Security (GHS) Index, which assesses a country’s technical, financial, socioeconomic, and political capabilities to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to epidemic threats with international implications. Through her vision and leadership, the first GHS Index was released in Fall 2019 and has since been used and referenced by multiple governments, organizations, news outlets, and experts seeking to better understand country vulnerabilities for epidemic threats, including COVID-19.

Duff Gillespie, PhD 

Partner Organization: Advance Family Planning

Dr. Gillespie created the Advance Family Planning advocacy initiative, which has increased the number of family planning policies, allocation of funds for family planning, access to contraceptive services, and the number of people who have received AFP SMART advocacy training.

Alain Bernard Labrique, PhD 

Partner Organization: JHU Global mHealth Initiative

Dr. Labrique has served as a technical advisor to NGOs, Ministries of Health, and multilateral agencies and led the development of seminal tools and technical publications that have improved the caliber of Digital Health research and policies.

Wietse A. Tol, PhD 

Partner Organization: Peter C. Alderman Foundation

Dr. Tol’s work has been instrumental in the implementation of international humanitarian mental health programs, including the adaptation and evaluation of a guided self-help intervention for South Sudanese refugees as well as creation of an innovative mental health program for post-conflict areas of Uganda.

Excellence in Baltimore Public Health Practice

Megan Latshaw, PhD, MHS

Partner Organization: Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition

Dr. Latshaw collaborated with the Baltimore Transit Equity coalition to examine the intersection of public transit, social vulnerability, air pollution, and health impacts.

Lois Privor-Dumm, MBA

Partner Organization: Baltimore City Health Department

Lois Privor-Dumm collaborated with the Baltimore City Health Department, Morgan State University, and other partners to help increase adult influenza immunization rates in Baltimore City via the Vaccine Access and Acceptance Lives in Unity, Education (VALUE) Baltimore project.

Lee Bone, MPH 

Partner Organization: Baltimore CONNECT

Lee Bone has been a lead contributor to Baltimore CONNECT, a network of 20 community-based organizations, faith communities, and health care systems. Through this work, she has built and sustained partnerships with local community members and healthcare organizations to address social determinants and link healthcare with social services.

Keeve Nachman, PhD 

Partner Organization: Safe Urban Harvests Project

Dr. Nachman worked with the Safe Urban Harvests Project to provide tailored recommendations on urban soil contamination to urban farmers in Baltimore. He worked to empower the Baltimore community in urban agriculture and has created additional resources on safe urban gardening available to the public.

Darcy Phelan-Emrick, PhD 

Partner Organization: Baltimore City Health Department

Dr. Phelan-Emrick led a multitude of important epidemiological analyses for the Baltimore City Health Department, including groundbreaking revision of the City’s Neighborhood Health Profiles with special attention to social determinants in health. In addition, she led the creation of the Community Health Needs Assessment profiles for several hospitals in Baltimore City.

Eileen Marie McDonald, MS 

Partner Organization: CARES Mobile Safety Center (MSC)

Eileen directs the CARES MSC, which aims to enhance safety of children in the Baltimore community through fun, interactive exhibits and connect community members to home and traffic safety resources and education.