Pamela Surkan ScD, PhD, MS

Pamela Jean Surkan is a social epidemiologist and professor in the Social and Behavioral Intervention Program (SBI) within the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). At JHSPH, she holds joint appointments in the Departments of Mental Health and Health, Behavior and Society. She also serves as the PhD Program Coordinator for doctoral students within SBI.

Surkan's research focuses on social determinants of health both domestically and globally. Dr. Surkan is committed to eliminating health disparities and to the development and adaptation of public health interventions with the aim of closing these gaps. One of her other main areas of interest includes intergenerational research, for example, how caregiver mental health and social conditions influence child development. In work with her doctoral students, populations she has studied include Eritrean, North Korean, and Somali migrants and refugees.

Surkan serves as the ‘Psychological Health’ section editor for the Maternal and Child Health Journal and is on the scientific advisory board for the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. Through her work she hopes to foster the exchange of ideas across disciplines to develop policies and programs to promote health and well-being.