Craig Pollack named inaugural holder of endowed professorship at Nursing and Public Health

The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have announced the appointment of Craig Pollack as inaugural holder of the Katey Ayers Endowed Professorship.

Funded through a generous gift from Nursing alumna Katey Ayers, a member of the Class of 1967, and matched by the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund, the professorship will tackle the complex intersection of housing and social services and their impact on health.

Pollack is an associate professor in Health Policy and Management in the Bloomberg School, where he has a joint appointment in Epidemiology; he also has a joint appointment in the School of Medicine. He examines health effects of housing mobility programs that help families move from areas of concentrated poverty and investigates the impact of housing affordability and place-based initiatives on health care use, spending, and outcomes.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Pollack to this position and expand his already well-established expertise and knowledge in how social determinants of health like housing, community stability, economic barriers, and more impact well-being and health of individuals and societies," says Nursing Dean Patricia Davidson.

Adds Bloomberg Dean Ellen J. MacKenzie, "Dr. Pollack's focus on understanding the broader social context of health and how the environment can affect the type and quality of care that patients receive make him the perfect fit for this inaugural position. We are grateful for this support, which will enhance collaborations across schools and communities."

As a practicing internal medicine physician, Pollack sees firsthand the experiences his patients face in navigating complex health and social challenges. His work has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Institutes of Health.

"There is an increasing recognition that housing can profoundly influence health," says Colleen Barry, the Fred and Julie Soper Professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School. "Through this professorship, Dr. Pollack can help strengthen research collaborations between Nursing and Public Health to improve the well-being of often vulnerable home-dwelling older adults."

Pollack received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco. He then received a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar.

"Dr. Pollack is an incredible clinician and researcher whose work has made significant impacts on a range of issues, including housing policy and housing mobility," says Keshia M. Pollack Porter, associate dean for faculty, director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy, and a professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management. "He is an experienced leader, and I am excited to see how his focus on housing as a key social determinant of health will expand in his new role."