About Me

My name is Sierra Grey-Coker, and I am a first-year Biostatistics PhD student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My research interests include causal inference, health equity and policy, and social determinants of health.

In May 2022 I graduated as a Sondheim Public Affairs scholar from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where I studied mathematics, statistics and public health. As an undergraduate, I also participated in the Summer Institute for Research Education in Biostatistics at Boston University, funded by the National Heart, Lungs, and Blood Institute, where I analyzed data collected from the Framingham Heart Study and Jackson Heart Study, and worked with a team to identify genetic variants associated with blood pressure in Hispanics.

I first became interested in public health by learning of John Snow and his work on the 1854 Cholera outbreak in London. I find the process he went through to solve the 1854 Cholera outbreak in London fascinating and wanted to learn and be able to apply processes similar to what he did.

My goal is to work with policy-makers and community stakeholders to create positive effects in community health. Specifically, I want to know how social determinants and public policies affect community health and equity. In the short-term, this means learning all I can through course-work and research in pursuit of my PhD.

Map of Cholera cases in 1854 London.