Maureen Johnson-León (Mo) is a public scholar, community organizer and creator. Her work spans public health policy, infectious disease research, data and tech ethics, democracy, equity and cooperative governance of multi-stakeholder community-based research projects. She is currently focused on data equity in pandemic response in collaboration with the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, and on mixed methods survey research with the Rural Pandemic Modeling group at the University of Idaho. Public engagement, interpreting science policy, and responsible communication are key parts of her role, and she regularly shares the Consortium’s work on TV, radio and print, as well as participates in local community events.
As a data equity specialist in an epidemiological modeling group, she leads and moderates in-depth discussions with experts in statistics, modeling, infectious diseases, sociology, medicine in order to build better models for disease prevention and policy optimization. This means thinking beyond the average, and considering complex implications of applied scientific work on the most socially vulnerable during, before and after urgent natural hazard disasters.
Previous to the pandemic, Mo led a community-driven data ethics project, and was one of the founding collaborative members of a New Zealand-based digital observatory for lowering online violence in response to the attack on Christchurch Mosque. She believes strongly in centering the needs and wishes of data participants throughout data and research pipelines; this means examining power, privilege and accountability, intentionally.
Formative early career experiences include working in data analysis in her hometown hospital, Baylor Scott & White, and piloting a field epidemiology study called CASITA with Socios in Salud in Peru. Both projects focused on understanding structural disparities in HIV prevalence, resource allocation and interventions, in order to build better public health infrastructure and informed collaboration between communities and institutions.
She is an enthusiastic cyclist and naturalist who loves spending time with friends, family and extended community. This includes attending soccer games, religious and secular gatherings, dance parties and multi-generational hikes.