Asal Mohamadi Johnson

Associate Professor of Public Health

In teaching, I try to facilitate an environment of participation in the classroom where I moderate the discussion among the students. This process helps students learn how to effectively communicate, how to critically listen to different ideas and perspectives and how to agree and disagree respectfully. Consistent with teacher-scholar model at Stetson University I follow an ambitious and productive scholarship agenda where teaching and research inform one another in an ongoing process.

  • PhD, urban and regional planning, Florida State University
  • M.P.H., epidemiology, Georgia Southern University
  • MA, urban and regional planning, University of Tehran
  • BS, economics, Azad University

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Asal Mohamadi Johnson

Biography

Dr. Asal Mohamadi Johnson joined Stetson University in 2014 after teaching at Florida State University and Georgia Southern University. She has a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University, a Master's degree in Urban Planning from the prestigious College of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran and a Master in Public Health from Jian Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University. She has experience creating and teaching a wide range of courses related to health and the build environment, religious and racial minorities, statistics, epidemiology and public health disparities. Some of her class topics include urban planning, sustainable development, Islam in multicultural cities, world cultures, healthy cities, global health and epidemiology.

Dr. Johnson values scholarship and believes effective teaching is enhanced through strong and consistent scientific inquiry. With an active and ambitious research agenda, she has published numerous articles in premier scientific journals regularly including students on research projects. She has mentored undergraduate research through the SURE grant program and senior thesis projects. Her ability to conduct rigorous scholarship is evidenced by her contributions as the lead scholar and author on several impactful studies. As an epidemiologist, Dr. Johnson is particularly interested in how the neighborhood environment impacts disease. Her research has been published in acclaimed journals such as the American Journal of Public Health; American Journal of Preventive Medicine; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Environment and Planning; and Urban Health. Her research investigating the impact of racial segregation on lung cancer survival and treatment was featured as an American Association of Cancer Research press release and was reported on by more than 40 international, national and local media outlets including Reuters, the Washington Post, CNBC, Fox News and Daytona News Journal.

Dr. Johnson is an active member of both the University and the community at large. With her unique background that connects neighborhood planning to public health, she has enthusiastically involved herself in undergraduate public health education at Stetson. As a founding faculty of the newly established public health major (starting in fall 2016) she has contributed to the design of the curriculum and completed an assessment of Public Health major. Dr. Johnson is actively involved in Spring Hill, a low-income community located in Deland. In addition to her sustained personal collaboration with the Spring Hill community, she has involved her students in a community health needs assessment that was conducted in collaboration with the Volusia County Health Department. Because of her efforts in Spring Hill, Dr. Johnson was awarded an Exceptional Community Partner Award from the Spring Hill Neighborhood Association which was ceremoniously presented to her by the mayor of DeLand.

More About Asal Mohamadi Johnson

Areas of Expertise

  • Neighborhood environment
  • Neighborhood design and planning
  • Social and spatial epidemiology
  • Cancer epidemiology
  • Global health

Course Sampling

  • Epidemiology
  • Global Health
  • Introduction to Public Health
  • Health and Human Rights (FSEM)
  • Public Health and the Built Environment
  • Research Proposal
  • Research Project
  • Internship

  • Neighborhood planning and health
  • Cancer epidemiology
  • Social epidemiology
  • Health disparities and neighborhood environment

  • Droznin, M., Johnson, A., & Johnson, A. M. (2017). Multidrug resistant tuberculosis in prisons located in former Soviet countries: A systematic review. PLoS ONE, 12(3), e0174373.
  • Johnson, A. M., Woodside, J. M., Johnson, A., & Pollack, J. M. (2017). Spatial patterns and neighborhood characteristics of overall suicide clusters in Florida from 2001 to 2010. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(1), e1-e7.
  • Hines, R. B., Bimali, M., Johnson, A. M., Bayakly, A. R., & Collins, T. C. (2016). Prevalence and survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III colon cancer patients: Comparison of overall and age-stratified results by multivariable modeling and propensity score methodology in a population-based cohort. Cancer Epidemiology, 44, 77-83.
  • Johnson, A. M., Johnson, A., Hines, R.B., & Bayakly, A. R. (2016). The Effects of Racial Segregation and Neighborhood Poverty on Treatment and Survival Outcomes in Patients with Early-stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer*. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 25(5), 750-758.
  • *This study was featured as an American Association for Cancer Research press release and reported on by more than 40 news outlet and agencies including: CNBC, Reuters, and Yahoo
  • Jordan, K.M., Johnson, A.M., Johnson, J.A. & Holman, J. (2016): Portuguese American gay men in southeastern Massachusetts: cultural scripts and risk for HIV. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 18(10): 1180-1191
  • Johnson III, J. A. & Johnson, A. M. (2015). Urban-Rural Differences in Childhood and Adolescent Obesity in the United States: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Childhood Obesity, 11(3): 36-42.
  • Yan, F., Johnson, A. M., Harrell, A., Pulver, A., & Zhang, J. (2015). Perception or Reality of Body Weight: Which Matters the Most to Adolescents' Emotional Wellbeing? Current Psychiatry Reviews, 11(2): 130-146.
  • Johnson, A. M. & Miles, R. (2014). Toward More Inclusive Public Spaces: Learning from the Everyday Experiences of Arab-Muslim Women in New York City. Environment and Planning A, 46 (8): 1892-1907.
  • Johnson, A. M., Hines, R. B., Johnson III, J. A., & Bayakly, A. R. (2014). Treatment and Survival Disparities in Lung Cancer: The Effect of Social Environment and Place of Residence. Lung Cancer, 38(3): 401-407.
  • Hines, R. B., Markossian, T., Johnson, A. M., & Bayakly, A. R. (2014). Geographic Residency and Census Tract Socioeconomic Status as Determinants of Colorectal Cancer Outcomes. American Journal of Public Health, 104(3): 63-71.
  • Miles, R., Coutts, C., & Mohamadi, A. (2012). Neighborhood Urban Form, Social Environment, and Depression*. Journal of Urban Health, 89(1): 1-18.