Mudia Uzzi Appointed as New Bloomberg Assistant Professor of American Health

The Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has appointed Mudia Uzzi, PhD, MSc, as a Bloomberg Assistant Professor of American Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. 

Uzzi’s research has focused on improving the health and safety of communities by considering the role of a broad range of potential social and economic drivers, including credit scores. He also studies the relationship between overdose and interpersonal violence, two focus areas for the Initiative.

Uzzi received his PhD in 2022 from the Bloomberg School where he studied the high rates of firearm violence in Baltimore City. During a postdoctoral fellowship, also at the Bloomberg School, he trained in the Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program. This program helps epidemiologists better understand social, environmental, genetic, and biological factors that contribute to substance use as well as treatment and emerging trends.

Uzzi has won several awards for his research and public health practice, including the Impact Science Award and Multidisciplinary Science Award from the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) New Investigator Research Award from the American Public Health Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard Injury Control Research Center Research Award, the Distinguished Doctoral Research Award and the Excellence in Baltimore Public Health Practice Award from the Bloomberg School, the Reverend Melvin B. Tuggle East Baltimore Community Excellence Award from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and more. 

“We are delighted to welcome Professor Uzzi to the Initiative,” says Michelle Spencer, MS, deputy director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. “His research will broaden our understanding of the causes of poor health and inform changes to promote safety and health across the country.”

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Uzzi attended Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor's degree in biology and minored in history. Uzzi received his Master of Science degree from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“We are thrilled to have Professor Uzzi return to the Bloomberg School as a member of our faculty,” says Dean Keshia Pollack Porter. “He will be a tremendous asset to the Initiative and its efforts in both violence and overdose prevention.”

Uzzi is also an alumnus of the Health Policy Research Scholars Program, a leadership development program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and facilitated through the Bloomberg School, for doctoral students from various disciplines who work to enable “everyone in America to live longer, healthier lives." 

The professorship endowment is part of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, which provides endowment support to 25 faculty positions within the Bloomberg School. The Initiative focuses on addressing major health challenges facing the U.S., including food systems for health, environmental challenges, addiction and overdose, violence, and adolescent health.