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Jessica Burke, Ph.D., M.H.S., Interim Chair and Professor

Dr. Burke is a public health social scientist with a focus on the interpersonal and neighborhood contexts of urban health disparities. Particularly central to her work are the communities of low-income women and children and other important women’s health problems, such as HIV/AIDS. She explores problems such as intimate partner violence, youth violence, low birth weight and preterm delivery. The ultimate goal of her work is to move the field of public health social science toward implementing programs that improve population health and reduce disparities.

She has experience teaching graduate-level courses that explore health determinants and stress the importance of partnering with communities to assess needs and implement social health programs.

Dr. Burke is a member of the American Public Health Association, the International Society for Urban Health, the Society for Public Health Education, and the Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health. She reviews articles for medical journals, including the American Journal of Health Behavior, Journal of Urban Health, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and the American Journal of Epidemiology.