Jessica Elf, MPH, PhD

Dr. Jessica Elf is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University. Dr. Elf’s research focuses on the epidemiology and health impacts of air pollution and tobacco use, with an emphasis on the HIV and tuberculosis (TB) co-epidemic. Her work aims to describe the overlap of air pollution and tobacco with these epidemics and the subsequent impact on TB and HIV health outcomes. In addition to risk characterization, her work focuses on subsequent mitigation strategies and interventions that are effective, sustainable, and collaborative across different fields in public health. Through the integration of environmentally focused epidemiologic studies in these targeted populations, Dr. Elf aims to facilitate and catalyze leaders from fields external to environmental health to champion exposure reduction through the lens of their own public health interests. Furthermore, she strives to build capacity and generate quality research that motivates policy and sustainable programs to improve health at the individual, district, country, and global level.

She previously was a post doctoral fellow in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Her primary research focus was on the epidemiology and health impacts of tobacco use and exposure to indoor air pollution from the combustion of biomass fuels. She is a former Fogarty Fellow who lived and worked in Pune, India conducting research for her thesis project, which investigated the association between indoor air pollution and tuberculosis. She completed her undergraduate education in nutrition at the University of Florida and received an MPH and PhD the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). She has worked at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at JHSPH, as a tobacco program specialist at a county health department in the State of Florida and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Timor-Leste.

Awards

1. Arthur M. Dannenberg Award. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2016.
2. Dr. Timothy Baker Award for International Health Development. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
3. Ujala Foundation Scholar. Center for Clinical Global Health Education, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
4. 2014 UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellow. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, February 2013-May 2014.
5. Student Assembly Student Conference Fund Award. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2014
6. Global Health Established Field Placement Conference Grant Award. "Exposure to indoor air pollution from secondhand tobacco smoke and use of biomass fuels in homes with active TB disease in Klerksdorp, South Africa."
7. Center for Global Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2013.
8. Global Health Established Field Placement Award. South Africa – Integration of Environmental Assessments into a Mass Active Case Finding Program. Center for Global Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2008.
9. Master of Public Health Field Experience Award. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2008.