Report by Hub staff
/ Published October 16, 2024
Joseph Amon, whose research focuses on neglected diseases and populations, has joined the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. He took office on October 15th.
Amon comes from Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, where he held several positions including director of the Office of Global Health, director of the Jonathan Mann Global Health and Human Rights Initiative, and professor of clinical education in the Department of Community Health. Prevention. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Health and Human Rights Journal, co-published by Drexel in collaboration with Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights.
Image description: Joseph Amon
He will succeed Chris Baylor, who will step down in 2022 to become director of the Duke Global Health Institute. Leonard Rubenstein, Distinguished Professor of Practice in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology, served as interim director before Amon took on his new role.
Since 2004, the Center for Public Health and Human Rights has worked to provide the tools of public health research to empower the world’s most disadvantaged people. The Center brings together interdisciplinary faculty and global partners to advance policies by governments and global institutions to protect health and human rights.
As director, Amon will continue the center’s work to educate and conduct research on stigmatized and historically disenfranchised populations.
“We live in a time of vast inequality, where people struggle to survive, let alone thrive, amid conflict, authoritarianism, financial collapse, crumbling infrastructure, and environmental tipping points.” says Amon. “The work of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights, which combines the tools of population-based science and human rights law, could not be more important in this context. We are honored to join the Center at this important moment. ” The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is still being felt and there is a need to rebuild trust and confidence in the public health sector. ”
Trained in molecular parasitology, Amon has worked for a wide range of government and non-government organizations, including the CDC, FHI360, Helen Keller International, and Walter Reed Army Research Institute. During his 10-year tenure at Human Rights Watch, he established the Human Rights and Health, Disability, and Environment programs.
Amon uses quantitative, qualitative, and legal/policy analysis to understand how and why certain populations and diseases are ignored, and how political determinants such as laws and their enforcement contribute to health outcomes. We conducted a study on the effects of His research investigated the impact of discrimination on access to preventive care and treatment. censorship; arbitrary detention; The “judicialization” of health. and the role of civil society in responding to infectious disease outbreaks and environmental health threats.
“Joe is an ambitious leader who is committed to the urgent work of research and advocacy to understand the impact of human rights violations on human health and develop rights-based approaches to public health challenges. I am ready to lead the center,” said Ellen J. Johnson. MacKenzie, Dean of the Bloomberg School. “His depth and breadth of experience will help us break new ground in the Center’s efforts to drive social change through rigorous science and a deep commitment to those most in need.”
Amon holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Hampshire College, a master’s degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a doctorate in parasitology from the Uniformed Services University’s F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine. I’m doing it.
