Amber Johnson, PhD, MPH
Dr. Amber Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Science at California State University at Long Beach.
Prior to joining CSULB, Dr. Johnson has had experience working with community-based participatory research projects, HIV prevention, CVD prevention education on the campus of Historically Black College and Universities, and community health assessment and outreach.
Dr. Johnson enjoys creating an engaging and interactive learning environment that encourages students to become active learners in and out of the classroom. She believes that it is important to discuss current events within the classroom setting to stimulate open debate and discuss their implications for future public health action. She currently teaches Epidemiology, Community Health, and Advance Behavioral Research Methods.
She earned both her PhD and MPH in Health Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her BA in Psychology from Winston-Salem State University. Her love for epidemiology also motivated her to pursue a certificate in Field Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on the social epidemiology of cardiovascular disease. Her research is guided by the weathering hypothesis, which posits that stress associated with racial inequities may cause health deterioration among African Americans as early as young adulthood, leading to racial disparities in health outcomes over the life span. Currently, she has been examining population-based studies to determine whether demographic (e.g., race, age, income) and psychosocial (e.g., racism, depression, social support) variables can predict cardiovascular risk profiles.
