Supporting Research and Projects with Impact
The Initiative supports projects with high impact that examine our five focus areas through the lens of our cross-cutting public health themes of equity, evidence, and policy.
- Judicial Health Notes
- Celebrating Life Youth Suicide Prevention
- Narrow Lanes
- Violence Reduction Councils
- Detecting Fentanyl
- Rural Communities in Crisis
- Extreme Risk Protection Orders
- Open Case Studies
- Preventing Sexual Abuse in Youth Serving Organizations
- Climate Change & Health
- Emergency Departments Can't Ignore Addiction
- Chronic Absenteeism Reduction Effort
- Operation Good Food & Beverages
- Massachusetts Pediatric Injury Equity Review (MassPIER)
Detecting Fentanyl. Saving Lives.
Addiction & Overdose
Fentanyl is a lethally potent drug that is driving the rapid rise in overdose deaths. Researches at Johns Hopkins investigated three available technologies to provide people who use drugs with information that could save their lives.
Rural Communities in Crisis
Addiction & Overdose
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.
Extreme Risk Protection Orders: A Tool to Save Lives
Violence
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.
Open Case Studies
Evidence
The Open Case Studies project showcases the possibilities of what can be achieved when working with real-world data. These case studies will empower current and future data scientists to leverage real-world data to solve leading public health challenges.
Preventing Sexual Abuse in Youth Serving Organizations
Adolescent Health
A framework of best practices that youth serving organizations can adopt in their local settings to protect the children and teens in their care.
Climate Change & Health: Assessing State Preparedness
Environmental Challenges
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Trust for America’s Health examine how well-prepared states are to protect residents from the health impacts of climate change.
Emergency Departments Can’t Ignore Addiction
Addiction & Overdose
In a new legal analysis, the Legal Action Center found that hospital emergency departments are legally responsible for providing effective care to people with substance use disorder.
Chronic Absenteeism Reduction Effort
Adolescent Health
Education and health are intricately connected. The CARE project is using secure data sharing to help health care systems and school districts work together to ensure students are in the classroom and ready to learn.
Operation Good Food & Beverages
Food Systems for Health
Healthy food is not a modern trend. Many ingredients used in modern plant-based diets were brought to the United States from Africa and have been central to black cuisine for centuries. Operation Good Food & Beverages is a movement of Black youth who recognize this history and want to elevate black voices and culture in the conversation around plant-based diets and food policy.
Massachusetts Pediatric Injury Equity Review (MassPIER)
Adolescent Health
Injuries are the leading causes of death in U.S. children over the age of 1, and significant inequities exist in who is injured by race, geographic location and socioeconomic status. MassPIER is a new process for reviewing inequities in injuries and identifying recommendations with experts in injury surveillance, child fatality review and legislative advocacy.
Narrowing Lanes
Environmental Challenges
U.S. cities have seen a growing demand for safer walking and biking options in recent years. This national investigation on the impacts of lane width on traffic safety looks at opportunities to make communities safer and healthier by narrowing vehicle lanes to accommodate better sidewalk and bike lane facilities.
Celebrating Life Youth Suicide Prevention
Adolescent Health
Native Americans have the lowest life expectancy among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.—70.1 years versus 78.5 years for white people—according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC data shows Indigenous Americans experienced the highest overall suicide rate in 2021, increasing 26% over the previous year, the highest year-over-year increase since 2018. To address these inequities, White Mountain Apache Tribal leaders and academic collaborators at the Bloomberg School are making this evidence-based and community-driven Celebrating Life Suicide Prevention Program more accessible to other tribes.
Judicial Health Notes
Equity
Hopkins Judicial Health Notes are a new tool that can be used to evaluate the health implications of critical court cases. The notes draw on public health expertise and evidence to provide insights into the health and equity considerations of court decisions at various levels.