Cross-Cutting Themes
Our Work is Rooted in Equity, Evidence, and Policy
Equity
Low-income communities and communities of color disproportionately experience illness and mortality from many different health challenges. Progress and justice require understanding and confronting these inequities directly.
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Evidence
Good intentions do not guarantee successful outcomes. It’s essential to study whether interventions, programs and policies work. Developing new tools to support more frequent and effective use of evidence is a critical goal for the Initiative.
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Policy
Moving the needle in the Initiative’s focus areas requires engaging a broad coalition of actors from the research, policy, practice and academic fields to design, implement, evaluate and advocate for evidence-based policy solutions.
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Contact UsSupporting Research and Projects with Impact
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Rural Communities in Crisis
In Cabell County, West Virginia, researchers set out to help health officials determine the level of resources, services, and treatment they need to provide in order to save lives during the opioid epidemic.
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Detecting Fentanyl. Saving Lives.
Fentanyl is a lethally potent drug that is driving the rapid rise in overdose deaths. Researchers at Johns Hopkins investigated three available technologies to provide people who use drugs with information that could save their lives.
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Extreme Risk Protection Orders: A Tool to Save Lives
ERPO laws help prevent gun deaths and protect communities. Their implementation is part of a national effort to reduce the daily loss of life due to firearm violence, including gun suicide.
Learn moreEmpowering a New Generation of People on the Front Lines of Change
The Bloomberg Fellows Program provides world-class public health training for individuals engaged with organizations tackling critical challenges facing the United States.
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Leah Ford
As a researcher at Food & Water Watch, Leah is focused on issues of energy consumption, factory farming, and climate mitigation.
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Washington
Susan E. Kornacki
Susan is co-chair of the Environmental Impact Working group for the Montgomery County Food Council where she leads a group of over 20 community members and professionals who work on mitigating the environmental impact of the local food system.
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Bethesda
Charles Hawthorne
Charles is the Capacity Building Coordinator at Harm Reduction Coalition, where he provides technical assistance to organizations that want to incorporate harm reduction into their service provision model.
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Oakland
Collaborating Organization Spotlight
Environmental ChallengesHelping Philadelphians Stay Healthy
Get Healthy Philly, part of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, is an innovative public-private coalition that works to tackle the underlying risk factors driving the epidemic of chronic disease and injuries in the city.
Collaborating Organization Spotlight
Environmental ChallengesDeep South Center for Environmental Justice
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families harmed by pollution and vulnerable to climate change in the Gulf Coast Region through research, education, and community and student engagement.
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Collaborating Organization Spotlight
Adolescent HealthChesapeake Bay Outward Bound School
Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School is a non-profit educational organization and expedition school that serves Baltimore City middle- and high-school students through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery, and service, both in and out of the classroom.
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Collaborating Organization Spotlight
Addiction & OverdoseNational Harm Reduction Coalition
For the past 25 years, National Harm Reduction Coalition, a national organization, has been consistently working to challenge and dismantle the stigma around people who use drugs, through training and capacity-building, policy and advocacy, and overdose prevention.
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Collaborating Organization Spotlight
Food Systems for HealthCenter for Science in the Public Interest
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a consumer advocacy organization whose twin missions are to conduct innovative research and advocacy programs in health and nutrition, and to provide consumers with current, useful information about their health and well-being.
Learn morePublic Health Leaders Make Our Work Possible
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Keshia Pollack Porter, PhD
Keshia M. Pollack Porter, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and Vice Dean for Faculty.
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Yeeli Mui, PhD
Yeeli Mui, PhD, MPH, is a Bloomberg Assistant Professor of American Health in the Department of International Health.
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Tamar Mendelson, PhD
Tamar Mendelson, PhD, is a Bloomberg Professor of American Health and Director of the Center for Adolescent Health, with joint appointments in the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health.
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Brendan Saloner, PhD
Brendan Saloner, PhD, is a Bloomberg Associate Professor of American Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a joint appointment in Mental Health.
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Michele R. Decker, ScD
Michele R. Decker, ScD, MPH, is a Bloomberg Associate Professor of American Health in Violence in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, with a joint appointment in the School of Nursing.
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