MEET THE CLUSTERS

The broad availability of health data and the computational and technological tools increasingly being used (such as machine learning and AI strategies) make it even more important than ever that we have faculty at the forefront of the careful and thoughtful use of data to improve health and reduce health disparities. Use of data without attention to data provenance and quality, or to the risks of algorithmic bias, may exacerbate inequities rather than working to reduce them. We need researchers who can develop and apply informatics and biostatistical approaches to best harness the data and technological tools available to improve health. Doing so, and fully understanding the strengths and weaknesses of data requires engagement from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. However, the fields of Biostatistics and Biomedical Informatics lack such diversity. This cluster will bring leading researchers in health data informatics and equity to the University, bringing important expertise and perspectives, diversifying the faculty, and building on existing strengths. It will also build on existing strengths and provide a central home for this work at the University, setting JHU up as a leading University in this area, facilitating further recruitment of top talent, research, and impact.

Cluster Leads | Elizabeth Stuart, Paul Nagy

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A diverse representation of experiences and perspectives is essential for fostering intellectual creativity and sustaining a vibrant research ecosystem. Our cluster hire initiative spans multiple departments (Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences (IBBS), Center of Bioengineering, and Clinical Departments) and schools (Medicine, Public Health, and Engineering) around the organizing research principle of Molecules to Medicine. We welcome applicants who have a strong plan to address the underrepresentation in science and medicine. Successful candidates will be basic science biologists without a strong history of focusing on clinical problems, but who upon hiring will receive targeted exposure to potential clinical applications through a structured mentorship program to enhance their sense of community, success, creativity, and collaboration across JHU.

Cluster Leads | Luis Garza, Rajini Rao

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Populations of African, Indigenous, and Hispanic descent have a higher burden of cancer deaths in the United States. Efforts to understand the complex and multifaceted nature of cancer health disparities have increased Populations of African, Indigenous, and Hispanic descent have a higher burden of cancer deaths in the United States. Efforts to understand the complex and multifaceted nature of cancer health disparities have increased over recent years. Using a trans-disciplinary, “soup-to-nuts” approach we plan to expand this knowledge base by studying the spectrum of socioenvironmental and biological factors contributing to cancer health disparities. Our goal is to identify the socio-environmental factors that drive cancer inequities and how these population-level differences affect biological processes, and how we can harness this knowledge to provide effective care for cancer patients of all races.

Cluster Leads |Ashani Weeraratna, Elizabeth Jaffee

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African diasporic life and politics represent a crucial new area of study in the Krieger School. While hiring in this area has been robust, and a new director for the Center for Africana Studies (CAS), has just been hired, this Center must continue to grow: a cluster of new faculty, each from different departments, across divisions, would bring together scholars whose expertise in Africa, the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe broaden our general understanding of black intellectual life, social movements, and politics generally. Such a cluster hire will also help to ensure that faculty at JHU make black culture a national site of scholarly inquiry into race, democracy, and freedom.

Cluster Leads | Minkah Makalani & Vesla Weaver

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Fluid mechanics is at the heart of critical global challenges from the spread of virus containing microscopic droplets to the atmospheric and oceanic flows governing climate patterns and the production of wind and wave energy. A fluid mechanics thematic cluster will thus enhance an area of current strength for the university that is set to have major impacts on global health, climate, materials, energy and space exploration. These areas are well aligned with the strategic plans of the university and bolster existing multi-school centers, (e.g. CEAFM and ROSEI). These problems span traditional departmental boundaries and therefore the cluster will focus on researchers that bridge subfields and bolster ties across departments and schools.

Cluster Leads | Gretar Tryggvason & Dennice Gayme

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Mathematical Biology is a field in which models of complex biological systems are built in order to understand and predict the behavior of these systems. Moreover, designing these models directly from the rules that govern biological systems further enables inquiry into the fundamental mechanisms and timing in the prediction of future states of biological systems. This discipline uniquely enables computational predictions to design the next experiment, therapeutic, or biomarker. Enabling these biological advances requires further theoretical and methodological advances in mathematics. Modeling techniques include differential equations, partial differential equations, signaling networks. Mathematical Biology is inherently an interdisciplinary pursuit. The excellence of Johns Hopkins investigators in mathematics, biology, medicine, and computational biology provides a rich environment in which Mathematical Biology can thrive. At Johns Hopkins, practitioners are housed in various departments – Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Biophysics, Neuroscience, etc. We believe the Fannie Gaston-Johansson Faculty of Excellence Program can have a profound impact in diversifying faculty who work at this intersection of life sciences and mathematics.

Cluster Leads | Warren Grayson & Elana Fertig

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