Faculty & Staff

Rosalind Jane Carter joined the Department of Epidemiology as assistant professor of clinical Epidemiology in May 2010. Rosalind, who studies pediatric and perinatal prevention of AIDS, had been an associate research scientist for the Mailman School's International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) since 2005. Before joining the Mailman School, she was an epidemic intelligence service officer and research scientist at the NYC Department of Health, Bureau of Communicable Disease and project director for CDC-sponsored studies of HIV-infected children at Public Health Solutions, Inc.  Rosalind received her PhD in Epidemiologic Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1994 and a Bachelor's degree from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges.

Ryan Demmer, formerly an associate research scientist in epidemiology, is now embarking on the second phase of an NIH career development award as an assistant professor of Epidemiology. Ryan has a general research interest in chronic disease risk factor epidemiology with specific focus on chronic infection and immuno-phenotype as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes development.  He serves as a co-investigator on The Oral Infections and Vascular Disease Epidemiology Study (INVEST), an ongoing NIH funded cohort study investigating the role of oral infection in the initiation and progression of carotid artery atherosclerosis and subsequent development of clinical cardiovascular disease and works collaboratively with colleagues in the College of Dental Medicine and in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Division of Cardiology.  He received his undergraduate degree (BS) from the University of Minnesota as well as an MPH and PhD.

Tal Gross joined the Department of Health Policy and Management as an assistant professor in June of 2010. His research focuses on health economics and labor economics. Prior to joining the Mailman School, Tal was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Miami.  He received a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and a BA in Mathematics, Economics, and Statistics from the University of Chicago in 2003.

Julie B. Herbstman, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, has been a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department, working at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health.  Julie's research focuses on the impact of prenatal exposures to environmental pollutants on child growth and development and she has also been involved in research exploring the long-term environmental health impact of exposure to pollutants from the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11.  Most recently, she has been collaborating on the Columbia Children's Center's work involving the integration of epigenetic biomarkers between prenatal exposures and disease risk.  Julie received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University (1998), her Master's in Science (ScM, 2002) and PhD from the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Elizabeth Jackson joined the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health faculty as assistant professor in March 2010. Her research focuses on health systems and health services research. At the Mailman School, Elizabeth will work on the Health System Development Project in Tanzania and Ghana and participate in the implementation of project activities, contribute to the impact of health systems and program intervention on population health, and teach health systems, health services and organizational restructuring and management. Elizabeth completed her PhD from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public in 2009. 

Rachel Shelton, assistant professor in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, is a social and behavioral researcher with academic training in social epidemiology, health behavior/health education, and community-based intervention research. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic-based disparities in cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. She received her ScD, Harvard School of Public Health in 2008, MPH, from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health, and a BA from University of Virginia in 2004.

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan is a public health historian with a focus on the history of medical global health concerns.  Her most recent research is on the cultural politics of aging in south Asia. Prior to joining the Mailman School faculty as assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Kavita was a David Bell Research Fellow at the Center for Population Studies and Development Studies at Harvard University and also was awarded the Balzan Fellowship for her work on social inequalities and health by University College London. Her training in history at Trinity College, Cambridge University and experience in archival work, policy debates and public health practice in developing settings brings together a rich interdisciplinary perspective anchored in rigorous historical method.

Lindsay Stark is an assistant professor of clinical Population and Family Health in the Program on Forced Migration and Health and has over a decade of experience leading applied research on protection of women and children in humanitarian settings. Lindsay has led assessment and evaluation projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She also serves as the director of Research and Curriculum at the newly founded Center on Child Protection, based at the University of Indonesia.  Lindsay is a graduate of Oberlin College, BA (with honors) 1999; Columbia University, MPH 2006; and Columbia University, DrPH (with distinction) 2010.