harvard school of public health phd epidemiology

Population Health Sciences

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You will be part of a program that is at the vanguard of integrating both the social and life sciences. You will be able to choose your path of interest from a program anchored in our cohort-driven model and built on the research and proven knowledge of our five fields of study—environmental health, epidemiology, global health and population, nutrition, and social and behavioral sciences—all viewed through the lens of statistics, health determinants, and social justice.

In this fully funded program, you will have access to the resources of 13 Harvard schools, including Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Harvard Medical School, as well as have the opportunity for in-person coursework at MIT, Tufts, and Brown.

Examples of PHS doctoral dissertations explore critical areas such as air pollution, novel epidemiologic methods in HIV research, health system quality improvement interventions in Africa, obesity and food insecurity, eviction and children’s health in the United States, and epidemic preparedness and response.

Graduates have gone on to fellow and postdoctoral positions at Harvard, Yale University, and University of California, San Francisco. Others have gone on to careers at the CDC, Pfizer, Takeda, Genentech, and various consultancies.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the PhD Program in Population Health Sciences and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Environmental Health | Epidemiology | Global Health and Population | Nutrition | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Admissions Requirements

Please review admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the PhD Program in Population Health Sciences.

Academic Background

Although a previous graduate degree is not required, applicants should have successfully completed coursework in introductory statistics or quantitative methods. Preference will be given to applicants who have either some relevant work experience or graduate work in the chosen field of study after completion of a bachelor’s degree. Applicants are required to select a field of study in their application and indicate an area of specialization. Secondary interest in an additional field of study may also be indicated in the application and statement of purpose.

Writing Sample

A writing sample is required as part of the application and should be a term paper, senior thesis, master’s thesis, first authored report or manuscript, research report, or similar work. It should be no longer than 10 pages, single-spaced; citations and references are not included in the page limit.

Statement of Purpose

Describe your reasons and motivations for pursuing a graduate degree in your chosen program of study at Harvard. What experiences led you to your research ambitions? Concisely state your past work in your intended field of study. Briefly indicate your career objectives. Your statement should not exceed 1,000 words. Please ensure that your statement of purpose covers the following points:

• your motivation in seeking doctoral-level training in population health sciences in your chosen field of study at Harvard
• a self-assessment of any past research experience and analytical skills
• a description of your current research interests and a suggestion of up to three faculty members whose work most closely matches your research interests
• your career aspirations.

Standardized Tests

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject Test: Optional iBT TOEFL minimum score: 100 IELTS minimum score: 7.5

See list of Population Health Sciences faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Miguel Hernán

Ayobami Akenroye

Andrew Beam

Issa Dahabreh

Barbra Dickerman

Sonia Hernández-Díaz

Jamie Robins

Sonja Swanson

Alejandro Szmulewicz

Tyler VanderWeele

Jessica Young

José R. Zubizarreta

Researchers.

Nedghie Adrien

Josephine Au

Chelsea Boccagno

Jeremy Brown

Mathieu Chalouni

Elizabeth Diemer

Connor Grady

Katherine/Guilin Li

Manqing Liu

Arin Madenci

Gonzalo Martínez-Alés

Chelsea Messinger

Bijan Niknam

Sophia Rein

Sarah Robertson

Daniela Van Santen

Guanbo Wang

Collaborators.

Yu-Han Chiu

Xabier García de Albéniz

Hanna Gerlovin

Roger Logan

Jack MacDonald

Joanna Michalski

Jessie Neuwirth

Ryan O’Dea

Nick Rezaee

Elena Rojco

Steven Vaziri

Strategic partners.

Karolinska Institutet

Office of Research and Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

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About the PhD in Epidemiology Program

The doctoral program in Epidemiology is anchored in public health and population research and analysis. Students approach research using epidemiologic methods to understand complex human health problems. The PhD requires two years of coursework followed by two (or more) years of research. Students are required to complete a teaching training curriculum and serve as a teaching assistant for methods and topical courses. Additionally, students must complete a written comprehensive exam, a practice oral exam, a preliminary exam, multiple oral and poster presentations, and a final dissertation including presentation and defense.

PhD in Epidemiology Program Highlights

Train with renowned faculty.

100+ faculty across 8 research tracks in epidemiology

Access to wide range of coursework

Explore your interests with a wide variety of courses taught by our faculty

Write and publish

All of our doctoral students get training in writing papers and proposals through didactic learning and mentoring

Participate on research teams

The School is the leading recipient of NIH research funding among U.S. schools of public health, providing robust hands-on research opportunities

What Can You Do With a Graduate Degree In Epidemiology?

Visit the  Graduate Employment Outcomes Dashboard to learn about Bloomberg School graduates' employment status, sector, and salaries.

Sample Careers

• Epidemiologist
• Faculty Member
• Science Director
• Health Commissioner

Curriculum for the PhD in Epidemiology

Browse an overview of the requirements for this doctoral program in the JHU Academic Catalogue and explore all course offerings in the Bloomberg School Course Directory .

Current students can view the PhD in Epidemiology requirements in the student handbook on the Epidemiology portal site.

Research Tracks

The Department's current research tracks in the PhD program include:

Cancer Epidemiology offers a rich, vibrant and dynamic environment for masters and doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows to actively participate, learn, explore and conduct cancer-related population-based and clinical research. The track has a long and successful history of training masters and doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. Past students continue to conduct population-based cancer research and have made successful transitions to positions in academia, government and private sector organizations.

Cardiovascular and Clinical Epidemiology focuses on the use of epidemiologic methods in clinical research and practice as well as interdisciplinary training on the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease. The program integrates knowledge on all aspects of the disease: biology, behavior, treatment, and prevention. Training emphasizes active participation in research and translational epidemiology using a collaborative approach, which is enhanced by the close relationships between the Department of Epidemiology and clinical departments of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis offers students a unique educational experience in clinical trial and evidence synthesis methodology. Methods are applied to a variety of clinical areas including respiratory-, eye- and infectious diseases, and mental health. Student-faculty discussions, journal clubs, research-in-progress meetings, seminars and active participation in research add to both the depth and breadth of the program.

Environmental Epidemiology concentrates on the impact of environmental exposures on health and disease states in human populations. This track integrates epidemiological methods, assessment of environmental exposures and understanding of specific disease processes to identify the health consequences of environmental exposures. Environmental Epidemiology provides basic information for risk assessment, risk communication, and environmental health policy decisions and has a central role in identifying, implementing and evaluating strategies for the prevention and control of environmental exposures. Training in Environmental Epidemiology emphasizes active participation in large population research projects, with close collaborations across the School and with national and international collaborators.

Epidemiology of Aging focuses on the determinants of physical and cognitive health, disease, and function in older adults. Offers multidisciplinary training in methods and theories needed for the study of older populations. Strong ties exist with several multi-departmental training grants and programs. This training program also is connected to numerous large research projects.

General Epidemiology and Methodology offers research and training opportunities in almost all areas of chronic disease epidemiology, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diseases of childhood and includes advanced methodology training in epidemiologic methods as well as providing individualized or customized training in statistical epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology and social epidemiology.

Genetic Epidemiology focuses on the study of genetic and environmental factors, and their interaction in disease and normal variation. Emphasis is on understanding the methodology and approach to designing, executing and analyzing genetic studies. Training is broad-based and collaborative and encourages participation in research from faculty in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Institute of Genetic Medicine, and the School of Medicine.

Infectious Disease Epidemiology provides training in the fundamentals of infectious disease epidemiology with an eye toward preparing graduates to work in teaching, research and practice. The program emphasizes principles and methods that can be used to understand the dynamics and control of transmissible diseases by all classes of organisms. The curriculum builds on the faculty's extensive and diverse experience researching and combating infectious diseases, ranging from hospital acquired infections, to neglected tropical diseases and sexually transmitted infections.

Admissions Requirements

For general admissions requirements, please visit the How to Apply page. This specific program also requires:

Prior Coursework

College-level math through pre-calculus, a biology course, and one additional science course

Prior Graduate Degree

Not required, but highly recommended

Prior Work Experience

One year of full-time work experience in a related field

Standardized Test Scores

Standardized test scores are  not required and not reviewed  for this program. If you have taken a standardized test such as the GRE, GMAT, or MCAT and want to submit your scores, please note that they will not be used as a metric during the application review.  Applications will be reviewed holistically based on all required application components.

All full-time PhD students will receive the following support for the first four years of the program: full tuition, individual health insurance, University Health Services clinic fee, vision insurance, and dental insurance.

Need-Based Relocation Grants Students who  are admitted to PhD programs at JHU   starting in Fall 2023 or beyond can apply to receive a $1500 need-based grant to offset the costs of relocating to be able to attend JHU.   These grants provide funding to a portion of incoming students who, without this money, may otherwise not be able to afford to relocate to JHU for their PhD program. This is not a merit-based grant. Applications will be evaluated solely based on financial need.  View more information about the need-based relocation grants for PhD students .

Questions about the program? We're happy to help.

General Inquiries:

[email protected]

Senior Academic Program Manager Frances S. Burman [email protected]

Population Health Sciences

The Program in Population Health Sciences offers doctoral training that builds on multiple disciplinary perspectives to understanding origins and determinants of health and disease across populations, and developing theoretical and methodological skills to conceptualizing and evaluating population-level interventions to address health inequalities. The program is a joint collaboration between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health to offer a Ph.D. in population health sciences. Students in this program will belong to one of the following fields of study: Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Global Health and Population, Nutrition, or Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Graduation 2024: Award winners

May 21, 2024 – Each year,  awards  are presented to graduating students, faculty, and staff at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Winners were announced at a celebration held in the Kresge cafeteria on May 21.

Student awards

Edgar Haber Award Krystle Kalafut , PhD ’24

Marianne Wessling-Resnick Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH) Student Service Award Joanna Olivas, PhD ’24

Robert B. Reed Prize for Excellence in Biostatistical Science Dylan Clark-Boucher, PhD ’28 Lee Ding, PhD ’28

Gareth M. Green Award for Excellence in Public Health Practice Patrick Chen , MPH ’24 Faisal Reza , MPH ’24 Kasey Pomeroy , MPH ’24

James H. Ware Award for Achievement in the Practice of Public Health Julia Hummel Jimenez, MPH ’24

Dr. Fang-Ching Sun Memorial Award Eniolami Dosunmu, MPH ’24

Albert Schweitzer Award Max Boulet, MPH ’24

LGBTQ Health Equity Award Colleen Reynolds , PhD ’24

Teaching Fellow Awards Intekhab Hossain, PhD ’24 Nicole Kogan , PhD ’24 Shelton Lo , PhD ’24 Tamara Rushovich , PhD ’24 Jhordan Wynne , PhD ’24

Faculty awards

Teaching Citation Awards Linda Cyr , lecturer on health management Brian Curran Healy , associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics Pamela Marie Rist , assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology Jack Rossin, instructor, Department of Health Policy and Management

Executive and Continuing Professional Education Excellence in Teaching Award Ellen Zane , adjunct assistant professor of health policy and management; CEO Emeritus of Tufts Medical Center and Tufts Children’s Hospital

Mentoring Awards Susan Madden, instructor, Office of Educational Programs Margareta Matache , lecturer on social and behavioral sciences William C. Vanderwagen, instructor, Office of Educational Programs

Marianne Wessling-Resnick Memorial Mentoring Award Jane J. Kim , Dean for Academic Affairs; K.T. Li Professor of Health Economics

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Dr eberechukwu onukwugha assumes role of president.

Lawrenceville, NJ, USA —May 28, 2024— ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research announced today the results of its recent elections. The Society’s membership selected its new president-elect and 4 new board members. The 2024-2025 board will assume office on July 1 and includes the following members.

Eberechukwu Onukwugha, PhD—President Dr Onukwugha will assume the role of 2024-2025 president after serving as ISPOR’s president-elect over the past year. She is a professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research and the executive director of Pharmaceutical Research Computing at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Brian O’Rourke, PharmD—Immediate Past President Dr O’Rourke moves into the role of immediate past president having served as president for the 2023-2024 term. He is currently president of Brian O’Rourke Health Care Consulting, Inc in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and previously served as the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) from 2009-2020.

Uwe Siebert, MD, MPH, MSc, ScD—President-Elect Dr Siebert was recently elected as president-elect and will move into the role of president during the 2025-2026 term. He is professor of Public Health, Medical Decision Making, and Health Technology Assessment (HTA), and chair of the Department of Public Health, Health Services Research, and HTA at UMIT TIROL - University for Health Sciences and Technology in Austria. He is also adjunct professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and affiliated with the Institute for Technology Assessment at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Elisabeth Fenwick, PhD—Director Dr Fenwick was recently elected as a new director and is chief scientific officer in OPEN Health’s HEOR & Market Access practice, based in Oxford, England, UK.

Ramiro E. Gilardino MD, MHS, MSc—Director Dr Gilardino was recently elected as a new director and acts as the global access and health technology assessment policy leader at MSD Innovation & Development (known as Merck in the United States and Canada).

Daniel Ollendorf, PhD—Director Dr Ollendorf was recently elected as a new director and is the chief scientific officer and director of health technology assessment methods and engagement at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).

Katja Rudell, PhD—Director Dr Rudell was recently elected as a new director and is senior director and global team lead of the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Science team at Parexel.

Returning board members include:

Dalia Dawoud, PhD—Director Dr Dawoud is a returning board director who is an associate director (research) at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in London, England, UK.

Lucinda Orsini, DPM, MPH—Director Dr Orsini a returning director who is vice president for value and outcomes research at COMPASS Pathways in Skillman, New Jersey, USA.

Amy K. O’Sullivan, PhD—Director Dr O’Sullivan is a returning director who is senior vice president and chief scientific officer at Ontada in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Sean D. Sullivan, BScPharm, MSc, PhD—Treasurer Dr Sullivan is returning as the Society’s treasurer and is professor of pharmacy and public health at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy in Seattle, Washington, USA and visiting professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science in  London, England, UK.

Rob Abbott—CEO and Executive Director Mr Abbott is chief executive officer and executive director at ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA.

ABOUT ISPOR ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), is an international, multistakeholder, nonprofit dedicated to advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally. The Society is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE ® -indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the field. Website  | LinkedIn   | Twitter (@ispororg)  |   YouTube   |   Facebook   |   Instagram  

Related Stories

When and how to conduct health technology assessments for biosimilars.

May 13, 2024

ISPOR Announces Patient-Centered Research Summit 2024

Apr 23, 2024

ISPOR 2024 Plenaries and Speakers Announced

Apr 22, 2024

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News & events, epidemiology, phd student profiles, alexander furuya.

• [email protected]

I am a Columbia University graduate student pursuing a PhD in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. I have an extensive background in data analysis, statistical programming, and public health research. My goal is to understand social determinants of health among those in the LGBTQ+ community and immigrant communities, and I hope to identify effective interventions to improve health.

I currently work with Dr. Dustin Duncan in analyzing data form the Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighborhoods in Trans women of color (TURNNT) Cohort. Specifically, I am looking into determinants of HIV prevention and treatment and identifying factors that affect them.

Research Interests

• Social Epidemiology
• LGBTQ+ Health
• Health of the Aging Community
• Intervention Science
• HIV Treatment and Prevention
• Biostatistical Methodologies
• Chronic Disease Epidemiology
• [email protected]

I am a first year doctoral student, first year fellow on the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship with ICAP, and an infectious disease epidemiologist. I received a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2014, an MPH in Epidemiological Methods and Applications from the University of Michigan in 2016, and prior to coming to Columbia, spent about seven years at the San Francisco Department of Public Health in the HIV Epidemiology Section. My research interests are centered around infectious disease prevention and treatment interventions, and I have past work pertaining to HIV care navigation, hepatitis C treatment, mpox vaccination, and COVID-19 coinfection among people with HIV. Apart from my role as an analyst, as a database administrator and developer, I designed, carried out, and evaluated a surveillance system modernization project to increase the accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of HIV test results for department case investigators and outreach staff. My current projects relate to PrEP demand creation among women in South Africa and HIV care retention patterns in Côte d'Ivoire.

• Infectious Disease
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Hoisum Nguyen

• [email protected]

Inspired by the stories of immigrants and social justice movements in the United States, Hoisum's research centralizes psychiatric and mental health outcomes with a particular focus on trauma and violence as it relates to firearms, racial/ethnic populations, LGBQIA+ communities, and financial means. Equipped with a Master’s in Public Health (MPH, Class of 2020) from Boston University in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, prior training in causal theories from UCLA (2021-2023), and previous work in suicide outcomes and emergency preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic for the county of Santa Clara, CA (2020-2022), Hoisum aims to create research of consequence for policy formulation.

Hoisum is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Epidemiology, a pre-doctoral fellow in Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Fellow (PET-T32), and also a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholar (HPRS) receiving health policy and leadership training from Johns Hopkins University (Class of 2026).

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Adam Whalen

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I am a first-year pre-doctoral candidate in Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science Training Program, jointly managed through the Department of Epidemiology and the Environmental Health Sciences Department. I received my BS in Biology and Public Health Science in 2015 from Santa Clara University, and my MPH in Epidemiology with a Certificate in Applied Biostatistics and Public Health Data Science from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2021. Previously, I worked as a data analyst at the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, working on research projects related to Hispanic/Latino health as well as women living with HIV. As a member of the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia, my current research investigates how discrimination against transgender women of color and sexual minority men affects health outcomes. I also examine activity space exposure to different features of the bult and social environment and how they influence criminal legal system involvement, sleep, access to gender-affirming health care, and other outcomes. My research interests include social and spatial epidemiology, novel spatiotemporal methods including GPS-based activity space analysis and geofencing applications, injury and violence outcomes such as transportation and police violence, and sexual and gender minority health.

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Erin M. Annunziato

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I am a pre-doctoral fellow in the Substance Abuse Epidemiology T32 Training Program. I am interested in structural-level determinants contributing to substance use-related harms, including racial and ethnic disparities in substance use treatment and drug-related legal outcomes. My current research examines relationships between 1) state policies, such as drug monitoring programs, and legal outcomes, and 2) racial and ethnic disparities in substance use treatment access through the criminal legal system. I have a BS in Biology from Boston College and an MPH in Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health.

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• [email protected]
• Google Scholar

I am a second year pre-doctoral candidate in Epidemiology and a second year pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science Training Program, jointly managed through the Department of Epidemiology and the Environmental Health Sciences Department. I earned a BS in Biology from Brooklyn College (CUNY) in 2019, and an MPH in Epidemiology with an Advanced Certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2021. Previously, I served as a clinical research coordinator at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, where I managed all aspects of research and administration for the Stroke Division. My previous research has focused on a range of mental, neurological, and substance use issues in humanitarian settings. As a doctoral student, my research efforts are focused on evaluating neurodevelopmental outcomes amidst the complex landscape of mental health and substance use among adolescents and their caregivers in diverse conflict-affected settings. My research interests include global mental health, substance use epidemiology, child development, and disability advocacy. 

• Global Mental Health
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Nicole Itzkowitz

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I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science T32 Training Program. I entered the program in 2022 with an MSc in epidemiology from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BA in public health from the University of Rochester. My research interests are broadly concerned with quantifying urban environmental and built environment exposures and exploring their relationship with injury and other non-communicable disease outcomes. My previous work at Imperial College focused on examining the causal relationship between acute noise pollution exposure and cardiovascular disease hospitalizations and creating a composite metric to estimate smoking behavior at small spatial resolutions. I am currently working with Dr. Andrew Rundle and the Built Environment and Health research group on several projects related to pedestrian and micromobility injuries and fatalities in the context of the built environment and alcohol use.

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Topics: Five Questions , Pilot Funding

Disentangling Complex Medical Outcomes

Five questions with biostatistician linda valeri on the value of pilot funding eight years later..

In 2015, Linda Valeri , PhD, was a young investigator with more ideas than funding to carry them out. Armed with a doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard University, she was at that critical juncture where she needed a lab–and a research team–to put her big ideas into motion.

Enter pilot funding through our OPTICS: Open Translational Science in Schizophrenia opportunity. The $50,000 award was enough for her to hire a postdoc and kickstart an ambitious research program, Her goal: sorting out the multiple pathways that interact to bring healing–or not–to people with severe mental illness. The work led to an early-career KO1 grant and laid the foundation for her first RO1, which she was awarded in 2023.

Valeri is now an assistant professor in biostatistics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. An expert on causal inference, her focus is applying statistical methods to improve our understanding of mental health, social and environmental determinants of health, and health disparities.

Your pilot funding in 2015 came at a critical transitional stage in your career. What would you say was the value of that grant to your research?

Overall, this project was crucial for me to really delve more deeply into understanding professional care for people with severe mental illness. That has been pivotal for me to be able to continue my line of research in biostatistics and to better serve my community.

“This project was crucial for me to really delve more deeply into understanding professional care for people with severe mental illness.”

The pilot afforded a number of benefits. The first was really practical: to obtain funding to start my team before receiving a large NIH grant. It was super important for me to accelerate my productivity during a time when I was starting to generate many ideas and could not keep up with the pace of them alone. You really need a team to be able to be productive and timely in your research. Thanks to this award, I was able to hire a postdoctoral fellow and two master students. It was a very important opportunity for me to get my lab started.

The next aspect was understanding the complexity of data acquisition, privacy, and IRB agreements. It was important to understand how these mechanisms work, who are the protagonists that make these processes work, how critical it is to be in contact with them, and to never skip a step.

Third was the collaborative aspect, cross-institutional and transdisciplinary. We had a very collegial group of co-winners of the award; I was super fortunate to be able to work with these brilliant scientists. I was also able to collaborate with industry (Janssen pharmaceutical), which was my first encounter with an institution outside of academia. It was very important to learn their perspective and what they care about, in addition to the perspectives of the co-awardees.

It was also my first interface with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). To understand how the NIH works in parallel with industry and clinical institutions to produce important research that informs this area of study was valuable.

So it was very much a collaborative effort, which I think was actually pretty special. I don’t think that level of collaboration across teams happens often, but it was the nature of the project in this case.

What was the essential research gap that your initial award sought to fill?

We know that severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are pretty complex. While antipsychotics are a key component of treatment, there’s no expectation that they are going to fix all the problems these patients have.

Many in the psychiatric community want to understand the impact of these antipsychotics not only in taming mania and depression symptoms, but also more broadly on functional outcomes and quality of life. These outcomes are becoming more and more relevant, and are increasingly regarded, together with symptoms, as primary outcomes. What could be the mechanisms which explain the potential effects or lack of effect of antipsychotics on these outcomes?

I am a biostatistician. My primary expertise is in causal inference and methods to unveil mediating mechanisms that can explain exposure or treatment effects. My specific goal was, first, to develop appropriate methodology to discover the multiple potential pathways of action related to antipsychotic medications.

How do we unravel these pathways to explain the effect of treatment on functional outcomes in a rigorous way? How do we then integrate information about these pathways across clinical trials with diverse designs, endpoints, and participant demographics?

What is the potential clinical benefit of this work?

The benefit to society is understanding whether antipsychotic medications really improve overall quality of life. If so–or not–what are the mechanisms underlying that?

We have more clearly quantified the impact of these medications on other important aspects of patients’ health, including cardiovascular and neurological health. Quantifying these potentially harmful pathways and how they interact enables clinicians to think about how they might augment these medications to minimize adverse outcomes.

This knowledge can also help inform further clinical trials. Maybe new trials would be designed with multiple arms where antipsychotics were complemented with certain diet or physical exercise interventions, or co-administered with drugs that could tame their toxicity. The next generation of clinical trials might employ new target outcomes that capture patients’ quality of life and functioning.

Your first RO1 award now applies the pathway-elucidating methodologies you developed during the pilot to an entirely different population. What is the goal?

My current R01 is serving a population of aging individuals at risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The scientific question we are addressing is whether attention to cardiovascular health for someone in their middle 20s, for example, might be more impactful than intervening later in life to prevent dementia.

“Don’t be afraid of having big ideas. Don’t be afraid of exchanging these ideas with your peers and people who are more senior than you.”

The specific goal is to develop methodologies to understand how environmental and social factors affect cognitive aging, taking into account that the disease processes mediating these effects happen over the course of a lifetime.

What is currently known comes from studies that typically examine a particular cardiovascular event at a particular time in an individual’s life and relate that to risk for a particular outcome. I would argue that this is potentially highly biased because it could mask some of the true pathways that might be operating. In practice, cardiovascular deterioration occurs along a continuum from young adulthood to middle age to late adulthood. It’s really the profile of these events–their onset and severity for example—that matters in explaining their effects.

So I bring to this question my expertise in understanding pathways and mediating mechanisms. In this case, we are really acknowledging the importance of viewing these mechanisms as multivariate disease processes occurring over time rather than discrete events.

What would you tell your younger self if you could go back and speak to her eight or 10 years ago, as a new postdoc?

You know, I just feel so lucky because I was so supported through this project. This award and all the people who were part of this award really helped me succeed.  My former mentor taught me the importance of project management. I got to work with a brilliant group of scientists. I don’t think things could have gone better.

My younger self, prior to receiving this award, could benefit from advice like “be more outspoken” and “make sure you don’t push down the ideas you have.” I would say to her: Don’t be afraid of having big ideas. Don’t be afraid of exchanging these ideas with your peers and people who are more senior than you.

And I would say: Test your gap. If someone is really keen on your ideas and your enthusiasm, just go for it. Surf the wave.

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Leadership Change in Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology

New leadership.

Left to right: Dr. Judith Lichtman and Dr. Xiaomei Ma

After nine and a half years as Chair of the Yale School of Public Health’s Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Dr. Judith Lichtman , PhD, MPH, is stepping down effective June 30, 2024, Dean Megan L. Ranney announced Tuesday. Dr. Xiaomei Ma , PhD, will assume department leadership as interim chair for one year, with the possibility of renewal.

Lichtman is a proud Yale alumna who obtained her MPH at Yale in 1988 followed by a PhD in 1996. After a four-year stint as an associate research scientist in neurology, Lichtman joined YSPH as an assistant professor of epidemiology (chronic diseases) in 2001. She became chair of the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology in 2015 and was elevated to professor four years later. She was named the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) in 2021. Lichtman is nationally recognized for her research into the epidemiology of stroke and heart disease. In addition to her department responsibilities, she also serves as director of the Humanities, Arts, and Public Health Practice at Yale ( HAPPY ) Initiative and co-director of the Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research at Yale.

Lichtman’s impactful research has advanced science and provided valuable insights to her field that will improve outcomes and care. Her work with HAPPY has been recognized across Yale and made YSPH a leader in leveraging the rich resources of the humanities and arts to convey important messages in public health. Ranney personally thanked Lichtman for her years of leadership and service to the school in a schoolwide email.

Ranney also thanked Ma for stepping into the role of interim chair. Like Lichtman, Ma has been with the Yale School of Public Health for more than two decades. After obtaining a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley in 2001 and a brief stint as a research scientist there, Ma arrived at YSPH as an assistant professor in 2003. She was promoted to associate professor in 2009 and professor with tenure in 2017. She currently serves as co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine.

Ma studies the etiology and health outcomes of different types of cancer, with a focus on pediatric cancer and malignancies of the hematopoietic system. With formal training in epidemiology, biostatistics, and medicine, she also investigates the patterns of care and prognosis of patients with different types of cancer, with a specific interest in cancer screening. She co-founded the Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center with Dr. Cary Gross.

“Having spent 20 years at the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, I have a strong sense of belonging and am committed to doing everything I can to help make the department the best it can be, along with all faculty, staff and students,” Ma said of her new role.

Lichtman said: “It has been a tremendous honor to serve as the Chair of Chronic Disease Epidemiology for three terms, spanning almost a decade. During this time, I have had the opportunity to support our amazing faculty, staff, and students as they navigate their exciting and productive careers. There is nothing more rewarding than helping others achieve their personal and professional goals. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and look forward to continuing to contribute to CDE and YSPH as the Director of the Humanities, Arts, and Public Health Practice at Yale (HAPPY) Initiative.”

Featured in this article

• Judith Lichtman, PhD, MPH Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases); Director, Humanities, Arts, and Public Health Practice at Yale (HAPPY) Initiative; Co-director, Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research
• Xiaomei Ma, PhD Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases); Co-Leader, Cancer Prevention and Control