Health policy expert Keshia Pollack Porter named next dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Keshia M. Pollack Porter, an internationally recognized scholar, trusted leader, and unwavering advocate for public health has been selected as the 12th dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Pollack Porter, who first arrived at the Bloomberg School as a PhD student in 2002 and currently serves as Bloomberg Centennial Chair and Professor in the school's Department of Health Policy and Management, emerged from a global search as the clear choice to continue and build on the Bloomberg School's trailblazing legacy of protecting health and saving lives, millions at a time.

Pollack Porter succeeds Ellen J. MacKenzie, who announced in September that she would conclude her term as dean this summer. Pollack Porter will assume her new role on Aug. 1.

"Our aim was to find someone with distinguished academic credentials, proven administrative experience, and exceptional leadership qualities who would honor the Bloomberg School's storied history while fostering innovation and collaboration around a shared and ambitious vision for the school's future at a moment of unique challenge for higher education and the field of public health," Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels wrote in a message to faculty, staff, and students today. "I am delighted to report that we found the perfect leader in Keshia Pollack Porter."

MacKenzie said: "I'm thrilled that Dr. Pollack Porter has been appointed to be the next dean of the Bloomberg School. With deep personal knowledge of the school, its work, and its people, and a constant willingness to listen, learn, and champion new ideas, I know she will do a terrific job."

The search process was led by an 18-member committee chaired by Provost Ray Jayawardhana, with support from Park Square Executive Search.

"Keshia is an eminent public health scholar, an admired teacher and mentor, and principled leader who brings deep knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing the Bloomberg School as she takes on the deanship," Jayawardhana said. "Throughout the search process she impressed the committee with her wide-ranging curiosity, profound sense of mission, and eagerness to engage with new ideas and perspectives. Keshia radiates a concern for others and for ensuring that the work what we do here improves lives beyond our campus."

Pollack Porter has distinguished herself as a leader in advancing policy change that promotes safe, healthy, and equitable environments at the local, state, and federal levels. She has led numerous federally funded studies, published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and reports, and influenced public health practice through leadership roles with the CDC and the National Academies, among others. Her scholarship draws on injury epidemiology and health impact assessment to identify policies that create safe, healthy, and equitable environments where people live, work, play, and travel. With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies through the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, she has created a new policy analysis tool to advance Health in All Policies, working regularly with policymakers from multiple sectors at the local, state, and federal levels.

Pollack Porter joined the Bloomberg School faculty as an associate professor in 2006 and became a full professor in 2017. She directs the Institute for Health and Social Policy and served as the school's vice dean for faculty from 2019-2022, a role in which she directed faculty recruitment, retirements, mentorship, and professional growth amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2019, she has also led the Health Policy Research Scholars, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that trains doctoral students from various disciplines to effectively apply their research to help build healthier and more equitable communities.

As chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, a role she has held since February 2022, Pollack Porter has strengthened faculty mentoring and development and recruited faculty in key areas such as data science and population health, health services research, advocacy, and health equity. She has also worked to increase connections with alumni, created opportunities for faculty, staff, and student engagement, promoted the department's use of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., to bridge the gap between policy and practice, and to encourage engagement with policymakers and decision-makers in the nation's capital.

"I am beyond honored to become the 12th dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health," Pollack Porter said. "I am thrilled to partner with faculty, staff, students, alumni, the university, and the larger global and local communities to promote optimal health and well-being for all. The work that we do in public health is now, more than ever, critically important. I am confident that together we will build on the Bloomberg School's renowned history and continue to pioneer new research, translate and disseminate knowledge to inform policy and practice, and educate today's and tomorrow's leaders."

Pollack Porter earned a BA in sociology from Tufts University—where she now serves as a university trustee—in 2000 and earned her MPH in chronic disease epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health in 2002. In 2005, she completed her PhD in health and public policy at the Bloomberg School. Before joining the Bloomberg School faculty, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship jointly sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, a three-time winner of the Bloomberg School's Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Award, and a 2018 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumna Award.

"Provost Jayawardhana and I are eager to see Keshia guide the Bloomberg School into its next era of global preeminence," Daniels wrote. "We know her tireless pursuit of excellence, entrepreneurial spirit, and enduring commitment to the mission of the Bloomberg School will serve the school and our entire university well during this critical moment and for many years to come."