Joan Casey, PhD
About
Joan A. Casey received her doctoral degree from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. Dr. Casey is an environmental epidemiologist who focuses on environmental health, environmental justice, and sustainability. Her research uses large secondary health datasets, such as electronic health records, to study the relationship between emerging environmental exposures and population health across the lifecourse. She also considers vulnerable populations, joint social and environmental exposures, and health disparities, particularly in an era of climate change. Dr. Casey investigates a range of exposures including wildfires, power outages, ambient temperature, the built environment, fossil fuel infrastructure, and concentrated animal feeding operations.
From 2014-2016, Dr. Casey was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, and from 2019-2022, she was the co-chair of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology North American chapter. She also serves as an editorial board review member for Environmental Health Perspectives. Dr. Casey also holds a BS in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and an MA in Applied Physiology from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Education
- PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- MA, Columbia University Teachers College
- BS, Cornell University
Affiliations
Mentorship
Not accepting new students in autumn 2026. Please follow the instructions on the How To Apply page.
Engagement
Equity, diversity and inclusion
Goodman et al. 2020 Public Health Reports used 2016–2017 data from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health institutions. They reported 11% of students and 6% of faculty were Black, 13% of students and 6% of faculty were Hispanic, and just 0.4% of students and faculty were Native American. In addition to the low representation of these historically marginalized groups, public health higher education also lacks individuals from other diverse backgrounds, including those from low socioeconomic status families, first-generation students and faculty, those with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. I am committed to helping to solve this problem. In addition, to reduce health disparities and effectively tackle public health threats from complex, socially-patterned exposures (e.g., COVID-19, climate change), our field must make the structural changes necessary to diversify our student, faculty, and staff populations and expand our research partners to include communities and other affected groups.
My research studies environmental disparities and how they impact health inequities in a changing climate. I am particularly interested in mentoring and teaching students from persistently marginalized backgrounds and helping them succeed in academia and elsewhere. I am also committed to recruiting and supporting faculty and staff from groups historically underrepresented in academia. In terms of positionality, I am white, of Western European decent, use she/her/hers pronouns, grew up in rural and suburban Oregon, and have a spouse, toddler, and dog (hi, Leela!).
Community and research partnerships
Kaiser Permanente Southern California (Pasadena, CA)
Sutter Health (Walnut Creek, CA)
California Department of Public Health (Richmond, CA)
PSE Healthy Energy (Oakland, CA)
CrisisReady (https://www.crisisready.io/)
Service
Member, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, DEOHS (2023 – Present)
Member, PhD Exam Committee, DEOHS (2023 – Present) Member
Center for One Health Research (2023 – Present)
Participating faculty, P30 NIEHS Center Interdisciplinary for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment (EDGE) (2023 – Present)
Participating faculty, T32 Biostatistics, Epidemiologic and Bioinformatic Training in Environmental Health (BEBTEH) Training Grant (2023 – Present)