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Bloomberg Distinguished Professorship in Social Policy and STEM Equity

Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Education

Established in 2014 by Michael R. Bloomberg

MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG is a Johns Hopkins alumnus, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, World Health Organization Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action, and former New York City mayor.

He is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who served as mayor of New York City from 2002-2013 after leading the company he started in 1981 for 20 years. Since leaving City Hall, he has resumed leadership of Bloomberg LP.

Bloomberg was elected mayor less than two months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Under his leadership, the city rebounded faster and stronger than expected on issues ranging from education to health to economic development.

A lifelong philanthropist, Bloomberg founded Bloomberg Philanthropies, which focuses on five main areas: public health, education, the environment, the arts, and government innovation. He also leads a number of bi-partisan coalitions on urgent issues, including climate change, illegal guns, immigration reform, and infrastructure investment. In January 2013, he made the $350 million gift that established the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships and provided undergraduate financial aid.

Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School.

Held by Odis Johnson

ODIS JOHNSON JR. is a leader in national conversations on the complex intersections of residential stratification, the relative status of African Americans, and social policy, including educational, housing, and policing policies. This work is of utmost importance for increasing the possibilities of evidence-based social reform.

Johnson’s research examines how youth development, the status of African American populations, and social inequality are impacted by neighborhoods, schools, and public policies. He investigates how policies have sought to influence neighborhood differences in school functioning and achievement, and of the policy and residential dynamics related to the status of African American men in particular. In addition to his Fatal Interactions with Police Study (FIPS), Johnson has analyzed neighborhood risk using advanced statistical methodologies, and examined how strategies for maintaining law and order impact the representation of racial groups in the school-to-prison pipeline. He is the architect of the Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational and Mixed Methodologies, a National Science Foundation effort to advance equity in data science.

Johnson joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2021 from Washington University in St. Louis.