Jessica Elf, MPH, PhD

Role: 
Scholar
Post Doctoral Fellow
Jessica Elf, MPH, PhD

Jessica Elf, MPH, PhD, is a post doctoral fellow in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Her primary research focus has been 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.
Faculty Mentor(s): 
Jonathan Golub, MPH, PhD
Amita Gupta, MD, MHS
Vidya Mave, MD, MPH

Predictive Value of TB-symptom Screen in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected Pregnant Women in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2014-10-28
Country: 
India
This is a cross sectional observational study known as PRACHITi (PRegnancy And CHanges In Tuberculosis), meaning “wisdom” in Marathi. It will be conducted at BJGMC to establish what the predictive value of the WHO TB symptom screen is in pregnant women in India. We hypothesize that the WHO TB...

RePORT: C-TRIUMPH: Substudy on Assessing the Association of Indoor Air Pollution with Tuberculosis in Adult Women and Children under 5 Years of Age

Post Date: 
2013-09-15
Country: 
India
Addressing social and environmental risk factors contributing to TB disease is becoming increasingly important for national TB programs. We are leveraging the pediatric participants in 1,100 homes participating in the C-TRIUMPH study, enhancing data collection regarding household and individual...

Impact of Diabetes on TB Treatment Outcomes

Post Date: 
2013-02-01
Country: 
India
CCGHE, the JHU Center for TB Research and BJGMC have been awarded a $2.5 million dollar NIH grant (2013-2018) to conduct a study to evaluate treatment outcomes among Indian patients with both diabetes mellitus and active TB. This study is assessing the prevalence of impaired glucose or frank...

BWI CTU: Baltimore-Washington-India Clinical Trials Unit

Post Date: 
2007-02-02
Country: 
India
United States
Comprising clinical trial sites at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Whitman Walker Health in Washington, DC, and the BJGMC-CCGHE collaboration in Pune, India, the Baltimore-Washington-India Clinical Trials Unit (BWI-CTU) is one of only 25 international HIV/TB clinical trial sites funded by the...

Secondhand smoke exposure and validity of self-report in low-income women and children in India

Post Date: 
2018-01-10
Publication: 
Pediatrics
Country: 
India
Pediatrics: Dr. Jessica Elf and colleagues evaluated the validity of standard self-reported measures for secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among women and children in urban India.

Household food insecurity is associated with low interferon-gamma levels in pregnant Indian women

Post Date: 
2017-07-01
Publication: 
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Country: 
India
Objective: To determine the association between household food insecurity and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels in pregnancy. Design: Pregnant women in India were administered the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) questionnaire and underwent an IFN-γ release assay. Logistic regression...

Validity of Reported Measures of Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Indian Households: Mishri Preparation a Potentially Overlooked Source in Low-Income Indian Communities

Post Date: 
2017-03-10
Presentation Location: 
Florence, Italy
Event & Convener: 
23rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT)
Oral presentation. Elf JL , Kinikar AA, Khadse S, Mave V, Gupte N, Kulkarni V, Patekar S, Raichur P, Cohen J, Breysse PN, Gupta A, Golub JE.

Characteristics Associated with Mobile Phone Access among Tuberculosis Patents in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2016-12-04
Presentation Location: 
Cape Town, South Africa
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
46th Union World Conference on Lung Health. International Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Poster Presentation. Ogale YP , Elf JL, Lokhande R, Mave V, Roy S, Gupta A, Golub J, Mathad J.

The Association of Household Air Pollution and Tuberculosis in Women and Children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2016-10-27
Presentation Location: 
Liverpool, England
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
46th Union World Conference on Lung Health. International Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Elf JL , Kinikar A, Khadse S, Mave V, Gupte N, Kulkarni V, Patekar S, Raichur P, Breysse PN, Gupta A, Golub JE.

A Case-control Study of Household Air Pollution and Tuberculosis in Women and Children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2016-10-26
Presentation Location: 
Liverpool, England
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
46th Union World Conference on Lung Health. International Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Oral Presentation. Elf JL , Kinikar A, Khadse S, Mave V, Gupte N, Kulkarni V, Patekar S, Raichur P, Breysse PN, Gupta A, Golub JE.

The Association of Household Air Pollution and Tuberculosis in Women and Children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2016-09-22
Presentation Location: 
Durban, South Africa
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
RePORT International Meeting
Elf JL , Kinikar A, Khadse S, Mave V, Gupte N, Kulkarni V, Patekar S, Raichur P, Breysse PN, Gupta A, Golub JE. RePORT International Meeting. Durban, South Africa. 2016-07-14.

The Association of Household Air Pollution and Tuberculosis in Women and Children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2016-06-21
Presentation Location: 
Baltimore, MD
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
2016 Annual Meeting. Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research
Presentation

Operational Challenges Undermine WHO TB Symptom Screen in Pregnant Women

Post Date: 
2015-10-11
Presentation Location: 
San Diego, CA
Event & Convener: 
ID Week 2015
Poster Session: Latent TB Infection: Diagnosis and Treatment. Vaidya A , Tambe S, Bhosale R, Mave V, Elf J, Pradhan N, Nevrekar N, Patil S, Kagal A, Joshi S, Chandanwale A, Gupta A, Mathad J.

The Association of Exposure to Air Pollution from Biomass Fuels, Kerosene, and Secondhand Tobacco Smoke with TB in Adult Women and Children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2015-05-01
Presentation Location: 
Denver, CO
Country: 
India
Event & Convener: 
American Thoracic Society International Conference
Poster Session: Latent TB Infection: Diagnosis and Treatment. Oral Presentation. Elf JL , Kinikar A, Khadse S, Mave V, Gupte N, Kulkarni V, Patekar S, Raichur P, Breysse P, Gupta A, Golub J.

Up Close: Jessica Elf

Post Date: 
2016-05-31
The quality of air is an ethical imperative.