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Andrea
L.
Wirtz
,
PhD

Associate Professor
Andrea Wirtz

Departmental Affiliations

Primary
Joint
Division
Social and Behavioral Interventions

Andrea Wirtz, PhD ’15, MHS ’07, advances epidemiologic methods to measure the association between human rights and health outcomes, focusing on evidence-based interventions and translation to policy.

Contact Info

615 N. Wolfe Street, Room W3505
Baltimore
Maryland
21205
US        
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2015
MHS
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2007
Overview
Dr. Wirtz is a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology and affiliated with the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Her research focuses on community-partnered international and domestic epidemiologic research and interventions to address the intersections between human rights and HIV and other health outcomes, with particular attention to populations that have been excluded from or invisible within research or otherwise traditionally underserved in health services. Internationally, she most recently served as joint Principal Investigator of a community-academic-policy collaboration to estimate HIV prevalence and other health indicators among Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Colombia. In the U.S. she is the joint Principal Investigator of a nationwide cohort exclusively focused on the unique health and HIV risks in transgender women. She is interested in how epidemiologic methods can be leveraged in complex situations and has contributed epidemiologic expertise to a number of humanitarian interventions and human rights investigations in diverse settings. At the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Dr. Wirtz instructs graduate-level courses on health survey research methods and the use of epidemiologic methods to investigate human rights violations.
Honors & Awards
2022 Recipient, Robert Carr Memorial Research Award: Community-Academic Partnerships to Advance Human Rights-based Policies and Practices, International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, International AIDS Society

2021 Recipient, Global leadership in HIV prevention research and implementation science with vulnerable communities at high-risk for HIV infection, US Department of State

2014-2022 Excellence in Teaching (courses: Assessing Epidemiologic Impact of Human Rights Violations and Assessing Epidemiologic Impact of Human Rights Violations), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

2015-16 Advising, Mentoring, & Teaching Recognition Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Select Publications
Selected publications since 2009:
  • Wirtz AL, Humes E, Althoff KN, Poteat T, Radix A, Mayer KH, Schneider JS, Haw JS, Wawrzyniak AJ, Cannon CM, Stevenson M, Cooney E, Adams D, Case J, Beyrer C, Laeyendecker O, Rodriguez AE, Reisner. S HIV incidence and mortality in transgender women in the eastern and southern United States: a multisite cohort study. Lancet HIV. 2023 Feb; 28: S2352-3018(23)00008-5. PMID: 36868260
  • Wirtz AL, Logie CH, Mbuagbaw L. Addressing health inequities in digital clinical trials: a review of challenges and solutions from the field of HIV research. Epidemiologic Reviews. 2022 Sep 16;. doi: 10.1093/epirev/mxac008. PMID: 36124659.
  • Wirtz AL, Page KR, Stevenson M, Guillén JR, Ortíz J, López JJ, Ramírez JF, Quijano C, Vela A, Moreno Y, Rigual F, Case J, Hakim A, Hladik W, Spiegel P. HIV surveillance and research for migrant populations: a protocol integrating respondent-driven sampling, case finding, and medicolegal services for Venezuelans living in Colombia. JMIR Research Protocols. 2022 Mar 8;11(3):e36026. PMID: 35258458
  • Wirtz AL, Trapence G, Kamba D, Gama V, Chalera R, Jumbe V, Kumwenda R, Mangochi M, Helleringer S, Beyrer C, Baral S. Geographic disparities in HIV prevalence and care among men who have sex with men in Malawi: results from a multi-site cross-sectional survey. Lancet HIV. 27 Feb 2017 pii: S2352-3018(17)30042-5. PMID: 28256422
  • Wirtz AL, Glass N, Perrin N, Pham K, Rubenstein L, Singh S, Vu A. Comprehensive development and testing of the ASIST-GBV, a screening tool for responding to gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. Conflict and Health 2016; 10:7. PMID: 27099617
Projects
Development of a screening tool to confidentially identify and refer cases of gender-based violence in humanitarian settings
Effectiveness of combination HIV preventive interventions for young Thai MSM
American Cohort to Study HIV Acquisition among Transgender Women in High Risk Areas