Instructors

Sharon Kardia, PhD

Dr. Kardia received her master's degree in statistics and her doctoral degree in human genetics from the University of Michigan. She was then a post-doctoral fellow studying systems biology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She joined the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1998.

Dr. Kardia's main research interests are in the genetic epidemiology of common chronic diseases and their risk factors. She is particularly interested in gene-environment and gene-gene interactions and in developing novel analytical strategies to understand the complex relationship between genetic variation, environmental variation, and risk of common chronic diseases. Her research utilizes genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic measures on large epidemiological cohorts.

Email: skardia@umich.edu Phone: 734.764.4221 Office: 1827 SPH I Office Hours: By appointment Faculty Profile Links to an external site.

 

Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD

Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez’s research focuses on the impact of chronological aging, reproductive aging and obesity and their intersections, on the development and progression of chronic disease and musculoskeletal outcomes through the creation of a metabolically-dysfunctional and pro-inflammatory environment. To address her research agenda, Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez pursues mechanistic and biologic hypotheses using both epidemiologic and clinical research designs leveraging her leadership in ongoing cohort studies as well as new data collection efforts.

Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez received her PhD in Epidemiologic Science and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. She is a National Institute of Aging Butler Williams Scholar, a KL2 trainee through the University of Michigan Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) and is on the Editorial Board at the Midlife Women’s Health journal.

Email: ckarvone@umich.edu Phone: 734.763.0571 Office: 6618 SPH I Office Hours: By appointment Faculty Profile Links to an external site.

 

Sara Adar, ScD

Sara Adar is the John Searle Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the human health effects of air pollution, with a growing interest in identifying intervention strategies to reduce exposures and improve health. Dr. Adar has served as an expert panelist for the Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization, including participation in the development of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter and sulfur oxides. She has also received the Sandra A. Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Epidemiology from the American Heart Association and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Dr. Adar started her career with an environmental engineering degree from MIT and then moved into Public Health, earning a masters from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Email: sadar@umich.edu Phone: 734.615.9207 Office: M5539 SPH II Office Hours: By appointment Faculty Profile Links to an external site.

 

Carlos Mendes de Leon, PhD

Dr. Carlos Mendes de Leon is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where he has been a faculty member since 2011. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he was first an Associate Professor and then a Professor of Internal Medicine (Epidemiology) and Preventive Medicine at Rush University Medical Center. From 2008-2010, he served as the Director of the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. Before joining the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging in 1995, he was an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale University School of Public Health.

Dr. Mendes de Leon is a social epidemiologist with a primary interest in major health problems and health disparities in late life. His work focuses on a broad array of social and psychological determinants that affect the development and progression of disability, cognitive decline and other common, age-related health outcomes.

Email: cmendes@umich.edu Phone: 734.765.2134 Office: SPH Tower 2679 Office Hours: By appointment Faculty Profile Links to an external site.

 

Belinda Needham, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2014 - present)
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2012 - 2014)
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (2008-2012)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley (2006- 2008)

Email: needhamb@umich.edu Phone: 734.765.9228 Office: 2649A SPH I Office Hours: By appointment Faculty Profile Links to an external site.