| Christine Kreuder Johnson | |
| Workplaces: | University of California, Davis |
| Alma Mater: | Duke University University of Pennsylvania University of California, Davis |
| Thesis Title: | Evaluation of survey methods used to assess distribution and abundance and characterization of patterns of mortality in southern sea otters |
| Thesis Url: | http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1013893887 |
| Thesis Year: | 2003 |
Christine Kreuder Johnson is an American epidemiologist and veterinary scientist who is Professor and Director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics at the One Health Institute. She serves as Professor of Epidemiology and Ecosystem Health at the University of California, Davis. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2021 for her novel research to investigate the epidemiology of zoonotic infectious diseases using One Health approaches, illuminate key animal-human interfaces that facilitate transmission of infectious diseases, and identify synergies for environmental stewardship to protect animal and human health.
Johnson was an undergraduate student at Duke University, where she studied zoology and political science.[1] She moved to the University of Pennsylvania for veterinary studies, where she earned a Veterinary Medicine Doctorate in 1994. She moved to the University of California, Davis, where she completed a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine. She earned a doctorate on effective methods to assess patterns of mortality in southern sea otters.[2]
Johnson is the Director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics at the One Health Institute. Her research looks to understand the impacts of environmental change on animal and human health. The findings of her research are used to inform public policy and better prepare for emerging threats. In particular, she is focused on identifying fault lines for disease emergence, spillover and spread.[3] She had looked to understand the impact of the climate crisis on disease and the land-to-sea movement of pathogens. Johnson has continued to work on sea otters since her doctoral research, showing that long-term exposure to domoic acid can cause fatal heart disease.[4] Domoic acid is produced in algal blooms that occur in unusually warm waters and then accumulate in crabs and clams.
Johnson's research has evaluated impacts to wildlife health and risks for zoonotic disease transmission at common animal-human interfaces .[5] Her work investigates environmental drivers of disease transmission and she develops One Health approaches to emerging and re-emerging infectious disease surveillance and risk mitigation. [6] [7] Johnson research has showed that domesticated animals share the highest number of viruses with humans, and that species threatened by hunting and decreases in habitat quality host twice as many zoonotic viruses as those endangered for other reasons.
In August 2020, with support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Johnson established the EpiCenter for Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence (EpiCenter), one of 10 Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases. The EpiCenter collaborates with scientists working on emerging infectious disease research in Uganda and Peru to investigate zoonotic disease transmission using One Health approaches to surveillance and outbreak investigations.[8] [9] [10]