Researcher | Research Overview
Current research activities focus on predicting patterns of influenza epidemics and pandemics, with specific interests in the efficacy of disease control strategies including vaccination, quarantine and travel restrictions. He has received funding for this research from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is also leading the development several novel disease surveillance systems, including HealthMap.org, an internet-based global infectious disease intelligence system. The system receives grant funding from Google.org and is currently in use by the CDC, WHO, DHS, DOD, HHS, EU among others. As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, HealthMap data provided one of the earliest indications of the novel H1N1 virus in 2009. He also published extensively on issues of patient privacy (including a recent piece in the New England Journal). His research also includes the development novel surveillance methods and informatics approaches for the post-marketing surveillance of therapeutics.
Researcher | Research Background
John Brownstein, Ph.D is Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School and is the Chief Innovation Officer of Boston Children’s Hospital. He also directs the Computational Epidemiology Lab and the Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator both at Boston Children’s. He was trained as an epidemiologist at Yale University. Overall, his work aims to have translation impact on the surveillance, control and prevention of disease. He has been at the forefront of the development and application of data mining and citizen science to public health. His efforts are in use by millions each year including the CDC, WHO, DHS, DOD, HHS, and EU, and has been recognized by the National Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. In addition to research achievements, this translational impact comes from playing an advisory role to numerous agencies on real-time public health surveillance including HHS, DHS, CDC, IOM, WHO and the White House. He was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to outstanding scientists and the Lagrange Prize for international achievements in complexity sciences and an Emmy for his contributions to medical reporting during the covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Brownstein is co-founder of digital health companies Epidemico and Circulation and an ABC Medical News Contributor. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles on epidemiology and public health. This work has been reported on widely including pieces in the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, National Public Radio and the BBC.