Department Chair

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) and the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) invite applications for the Bloomberg Centennial Chair of the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (EHE). The Chair will lead this nationally unique joint Public Health–Engineering department to translate discoveries from bench science through policy and practice into measurable gains in human and environmental health.

We are seeking a dynamic, transparent, scholar-leader who can inspire broadly and further amplify EHE’s impact.

EHE is powered by 51 tenure-line and 61 non-tenure-line faculty, 34 postdocs, 44 staff, and degree programs serving 75 doctoral, 104 EHE master’s, approximately 800 MPH master’s students, and 40 undergraduate engineering students. EHE is a people-centered engine for public impact, a global leader that integrates biological, physical, clinical, and population sciences to prevent disease and protect communities. Our faculty-driven centers convert discovery into policy and practice - from the Center for a Livable Future (a first-of-its-kind, 1996) advancing healthy, equitable food systems, to the Center for Health Security shaping preparedness and response, to the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (founded 1981) redefining humane science.

EHE’s culture of collaboration, evidence-based advocacy, and real-world translation, across environmental engineering and public health, has delivered impact locally and globally, and is the platform the next Chair will leverage.

Even as academic institutions face headwinds and the discourse around public health and environmental protection is contested, this is a moment for builders, not bystanders. At Johns Hopkins – the nation’s first research university, home to the largest school of public health, and a top-ranked environmental health department with a legacy of modernizing water and environmental systems – EHE offers the platform to redefine how science and engineering becomes community health, policy, and practice.

The University seeks a leader with the energy, transparency, and emotional intelligence to rally people and resources across its unique platform of two schools.

EHE seeks a recognized scholar with the vision and administrative experience to inspire and grow a cross-divisional department. Ideal candidates will be a leader with high energy and emotional intelligence; an inspiring and transparent communicator, with an interest in mentoring faculty, enabling staff, inspiring trainees, and fostering shared governance. In addition, we seek a builder who can strengthen programs and partnerships across the JHU schools (BSPH and WSE), as well as with centers, and EHE’s myriad external stakeholders.

Candidates must have the academic qualifications to be a tenured full professor in the department, including an earned PhD in a relevant field. The new Chair will hold an endowed Centennial professorship for a five-year term; anticipated to start in 2026.

Johns Hopkins has engaged Opus Partners (Craig Smith, Senior Partner; Jeffrey Stafford, Senior Associate). Please contact Jeffrey Stafford (jeff) with a CV, cover letter addressed to the search chair (Professor Benjamin Schafer), and three references (contacted only at short‑list stage).

EHE faculty, including the department Chair, have their primary appointment in either BSPH or WSE and may teach in degree programs anchored in one school or the other (or both). The annual compensation range for the role is $350K-$430K, to be structured through negotiation with the deans. This salary range represents the minimum and maximum salaries for this position and is based on Johns Hopkins University's good faith belief at the time of posting.

Not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range. The actual compensation offered to the selected candidate may vary and will ultimately depend on multiple factors, which may include the successful candidate's geographic location, skills, work experience, internal equity, market conditions, education/training, and other factors, as reasonably determined by the University. The deans of…