Jill Johnston, PhD
Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Health Equity Interests
The Environmental Justice Research Lab collaborates with communities to engage in community-driven epidemiology and action-oriented research
Biography
Jill Johnston, PhD is an Asoociate Professor and Director of Community Engagement in the Division of Environmental Health at University of Southern California. Her research focuses on addressing unequal exposures to harmful contaminants that affect the health of working poor and communities of color. Dr. Johnston engages in collaborations with grassroots organizations to conduct community-engaged action-oriented research at USC to support environmental justice. She works towards strong partnership with local organizations, community health workers (promotores), policymakers and residents to address air pollution, upstream oil and gas extraction and incompatible land use. Previously she worked as a community organizer on issues of environmental and economic justice in South Texas. Dr. Johnston received her PhD in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied hazardous waste sites and industrial animal production.
Research Interests
- Disparities
- Racial Disparities
- Urban Health
- Rural Health
- Immigrant Health
- Community Engagement
- Community-based Participatory Research
- Vulnerable Populations
- Climate Change
- Community Health
- Cohort Studies
- Exposures
- Air Pollution
- Soil Contamination
- Environmental Monitoring Studies
- Environmental Justice
- Community Partnerships, Engagement, and Outreach
- Human Health Impacts
- EH Training and Teaching
- Urban Oil Drilling
Publications
Perceptions and experiences of environmental health and risks among Latina mothers in urban Los Angeles, California, USA.
Environ Health. 2023 Jan 14;22(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s12940-023-00963-2. Epub 2023 Jan 14. PubMed PMID: 36641468; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9840262.
Malodors as environmental injustice: health symptoms in the aftermath of a hydrogen sulfide emergency in Carson, California, USA.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2023 Jun 30;. doi: 10.1038/s41370-023-00561-x. Epub 2023 Jun 30. PubMed PMID: 37391609;
Agricultural burning in Imperial Valley, California and respiratory symptoms in children: A cross-sectional, repeated measures analysis.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 28;901:165854. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165854. Epub 2023 Jul 28. PubMed PMID: 37516194;
Respiratory health, pulmonary function and local engagement in urban communities near oil development.
Environ Res. 2021 Mar 29;197:111088. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088. Epub 2021 Mar 29. PubMed PMID: 33794173;
Chemical Exposures, Health, and Environmental Justice in Communities Living on the Fenceline of Industry.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2020 Mar;7(1):48-57. doi: 10.1007/s40572-020-00263-8. PubMed PMID: 31970715; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7035204.
Courses Taught
- Organizing and Mobilizing Communities for Public Health
- Environmental Health, Policy and Practice
Education
- PhD in Environmental Sciences & Engineering; Public Policy
at University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
08/2013 - BA in Earth & Environmental Sciences
at Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
05/2003