LISA A. COOPER is the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor. She is also a core faculty member of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. She has joint appointments in the School of Nursing and in the departments of epidemiology, health policy & management, and health behavior and society at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Cooper was born in Liberia, West Africa, and immigrated to the United States with her family just after graduating from high school at the International School of Geneva in Switzerland. She received her undergraduate degree from Emory University, her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her master of public health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Maryland, and general internal medicine fellowship training at Johns Hopkins before joining the faculty in 1994.
The author of more than 100 research articles and several book chapters, she is an internationally recognized expert on the effectiveness of patient-centered interventions (e.g., physician communication skills and cultural competence training, patient shared decision-making, and self-management skills training) for improving health outcomes and overcoming racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. Dr. Cooper has received several awards for her work in health disparities, including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Delta Omega Public Health Honorary Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
In 2007, Dr. Cooper was a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship “genius” grant. In 2011 she was named an inaugural Gilman Scholar at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Cooper has made important contributions to diversity initiatives in medicine. In 2006, she received the Herbert Nickens Award for exceptional contributions to cultural diversity in medicine from the Society of General Internal Medicine. In addition, she has helped Johns Hopkins prioritize its activities to promote a more diverse and inclusive environment, deliver equitable care to patients, and engage the community. She served as chair of the Department of Medicine’s Diversity Council from 2005 to 2007.
Dr. Cooper serves on the boards of several community organizations and has received awards for community partnership and advocacy. She was recently appointed by Governor O’Malley to the Maryland Health Care Quality and Costs Council where she participated in a special workgroup on disparities; the workgroup’s recommendations have been put into proposed legislation. Dr. Cooper has testified at U.S. Congressional hearings regarding health disparities, diversity in the healthcare workforce, cultural competency training of health professionals, and funding for biomedical research.
Currently, Dr. Cooper is the principal investigator of an NIH-funded trans-disciplinary Center for Population Health and Health Disparities (The Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Disparities). She is a devoted mentor to junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, residents, public health, nursing and medical students.
Dr. Cooper is blessed to have the love and support of her wonderful extended family, including her husband, Nigel Green; son, Donovan Patrick; mother, Izetta Cooper; brother and sister-in-law, Armah and Shahmeem Cooper; sister and brother-in-law, Dawn and Nathaniel Barnes; and several aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins. She is deeply honored to be recognized in this public manner and is pleased to serve as the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine.
MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG is the founder of Bloomberg LP, Philanthropist, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, World Health Organization Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, and three-term mayor of New York City.