Michele Decker, ScD, leads research at the cutting edge of gender equity, and gender-based violence prevention and response, in close partnership with practitioners and communities most affected. Decker is a Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is the inaugural director of the directs the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Women's Health and Gender Equity. She holds an endowed Bloomberg Professorship of American Health and leads the Initiative's Violence Steering Committee. A social epidemiologist by training, Decker's applied research portfolio addresses the epidemiology, social determinants, health impact, and prevention of gender-based violence and other gender inequities in diverse global settings, in concert with practitioners and communities most affected, and with diverse extramural support. Decker's work includes evaluation of innovative GBV prevention and response strategies including housing supports, clinic-based interventions and tech-based solutions, as well as research in partnership with communities to document violence and understand and mitigate its impact. She blends large-scale quantitative investigations with qualitative methods.
