COVID-19 and Disability: An Unequal Response

COVID-19 and Health Inequities Seminar Series

Bonnielin Swenor

Dr. Swenor is an epidemiologist and Director of the newly established Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, which aims to address health disparities among people with all types of disabilities. This Center connects researchers and stakeholders focused on maximizing health, equity, and participation of people with disabilities.

Her work is fueled by her personal experience with visual impairment, a perspective that guides all aspects of her research. She obtained a PhD in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Institutes on Aging before joining the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Swenor’s primary faculty appointment is at the Wilmer Eye Institute. She has a joint faculty appointment in the Epidemiology Department, and is a Core Faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Center for Aging and Health and Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has disproportionately affected communities of color, people living in poverty, and other marginalized groups. Speakers will explore how COVID-19 exposure risk, the quality of COVID-19-specific medical care, and social determinants of health contribute to disparate trends in COVID-19 infection and mortality seen in the United States. Speakers will be asked to comment on the major public health needs, such as data collection and studies performed, that are required to support a more equitable pandemic response.