Our team of faculty and staff are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the community by facilitating understanding and information sharing between Johns Hopkins Institutions and the Baltimore community. Robert Wm. Blum, MD, PhD, MPH Director Philip J. Leaf, PhD Senior Associate Director M. Chris Gibbons, MD, MPH Associate Director Alan G. Green, PhD Associate Director Pamala Martin Institute Administrator Amy L. Gawad, MPH Program Director Ebony F. Pittman Information Specialist Lauren Zerbe Communications Specialist Catonya Lester Senior Administrative Coordinator
Dr. Blum was named the director of the UHI in July 2007. In addition to urban health issues, Dr. Blum’s research interests include adolescent sexuality, chronic illness, and international adolescent health care issues. Dr. Blum is also the William H. Gates, Sr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Faculty Bio
Email: rblum@jhsph.edu
Dr. Leaf brings expertise in mental health and sociology to the UHI. Dr. Leaf is also a professor in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Center for Prevention of Youth Violence. His work focuses on preventing youth violence and promoting positive youth development. Faculty Bio
Email: pleaf@jhsph.edu
Dr. Gibbons directs the UHI Center for Community Health where he runs Community Health Worker Program which focuses on urban chronic diseases and urban maternal child health problems. Dr. Gibbons is also working to demonstrate the value of uniting health information technologies and e-health interventions among urban African-American populations. His work is forming the foundation of the emerging field of populomics which represents the fusion of the population sciences, medicine and informatics. Prior to coming to the Urban Health Institute, Dr. Gibbons was a Senior Policy Fellow at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Faculty Bio
Email: mgibbons@jhsph.edu
Dr. Green is an accomplished educator, researcher, project evaluator, and consultant dedicated to issues that impact urban health. Dr. Green’s research interests include urban school counseling, contextually relevant mental health interventions for African-American adolescents, and individualized supplemental education. Dr. Green is also an associate professor and chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Services at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Prior to his appointment at Johns Hopkins, he was an adjunct professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University and a clinical psychology intern at the Maryland Department of Safety and Corrections. Faculty Bio
Email: agreen@jhu.edu
Amy Gawad works on developing new initiatives and oversees ongoing activities at the UHI. Prior to joining our team, she was a research associate at the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academy of Sciences, where she oversaw the William T. Grant Foundation Youth Development Prize Committee. In addition, she served as the research associate on a number of reports, including Ethical Considerations for Research on Housing-Related Health Hazards Involving Children; Working Families and Growing Kids: Caring for Children and Adolescents; and Community Programs to Promote Youth Development. Prior to her work on youth development at the NAS, she had responsibility for the dissemination of Board reports, including From Neurons to Neighborhoods, a report on the science of early childhood development. She received her MPH from the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.
Email: agawad@jhsph.edu
Mrs. Martin oversees finance and administrative aspects of the UHI. In addition, she is administratively responsible for the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health in the Bloomberg School of Public Health where she has been for the past three years. Before joining Hopkins, she was an administrator for St. Agnes Healthcare where she had responsibility for both outpatient and inpatient services. She has expertise in community based federally qualified health care centers, information technology and financial as well as human resource management.
Email: pmartin@jhsph.edu
Ms. Pittman is responsible for gathering as much information as possible on Baltimore-based Hopkins projects, as well as ensuring that our website, particularly the service finder, is as up-to-date and useful as possible. Prior to joining the UHI, Ebony worked at the Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning, where she supported a variety of projects, including their Summer Learning Day, multiple research studies, and assisted with onsite evaluations of summer programs. Before coming to Hopkins, she was a case manager for the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, working primarily with children in the foster care system.
Email: epittman@jhsph.edu
As the communications specialist, Ms. Zerbe works with UHI faculty and staff to develop effective communication strategies for the Institute. She is also responsible for all media development including the creation and publication of materials disseminated by the UHI. Before joining the UHI, she was the coordinator for the Johns Hopkins Women’s and Children’s Health Policy Center. She is an MBA student at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and holds a bachelors’ degree in visual communication from Towson University.
Email: lzerbe@jhsph.edu
Ms. Lester works with the UHI to provide support and coordinate logistics and events. With over 10 years of experience at Johns Hopkins, Catonya most recently worked at the Homewood campus in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations on leadership and principal gift accounts. She has also worked in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Otolaryngology, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, and Adult Medicine. Catonya has also been a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maryland since 2002.
Email: clester@jhsph.edu
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