Tara Kirk Sell | Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Professional Profile

Dr. Sell is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At the Center, she conducts, manages, and leads research projects to develop a greater understanding of potentially large-scale health events. She also serves as an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security. Dr. Sell co-directs the Health Security PhD track within the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering.

Dr. Sell’s work focuses on improving public health policy and practice to reduce the health impacts of disasters and terrorism. Her primary research interests focus on health security: the broad intersection of public health and national security. From terrorism to pandemics and natural disasters, she employs mixed methods and multidisciplinary approaches to examine how the public, practitioners, and policymakers prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. In turn, she works to build the evidence base to advance policies and practices to minimize impacts of emergent threats.

A hallmark of Dr. Sell’s work is the discovery of scientifically rigorous results while simultaneously interfacing with policymakers, public health practitioners, and the general public to translate research findings into actionable and evidence-based practices. She works to translate and disseminate findings and recommendations to target audiences in meaningful ways, such as engaging in collaborative work with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve public communication and trust or co-developing immersive pandemic scenarios to improve planning.

Dr. Sell leads work focused on improving responses to public health emergencies. She currently leads the Region 3 Public Health Preparedness and Response Center, supported by CDC, and has been principal investigator on several CDC-funded projects focused on public health preparedness, risk communication, and public trust. She also leads work, supported by the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and Global Affairs Canada to actively respond to hybrid threats related to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons.

Another project, developed with Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering collaborators, sought to improve understanding of the health impacts and public health response priorities for longer-term electrical power outages. In addition, she conducts research and analysis of the funding and management of civilian biodefense, radiological/nuclear defense, and chemical defense programs in the US government, providing an accounting of federal funding. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sell worked on a range of projects to help improve the US response to the outbreak. She has also collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-led projects to support the US Department of Homeland Security. Her other research efforts focus on public health and resilience at a local level, evaluating local responses to recent outbreaks, local public health needs for community engagement, and local capabilities and needs.

Prior to joining the Center in 2009, Dr. Sell was a professional athlete. She was a member of the USA national swim team for 8 years and served as captain for 6 USA national swim teams. In 2004, she broke the world record in the 100 breaststroke (Short Course Meters) and earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Dr. Sell completed her PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management, where she was a Sommer Scholar. Her dissertation work focused on public policy responses to emerging epidemics and, specifically, how the media and policy actions intertwined in the case of Ebola and the health consequences of these policy actions. She received a BA in human biology and an MA in anthropological sciences from Stanford University. In 2005, she was a Rhodes Scholar finalist.