9/8/25: Introducing the New JHIPH Executive Director

Rachel has deep roots in JHU’s community, having completed her DrPH in Health Equity and Social Justice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sustainably improving health and health equity has been the throughline of Rachel’s distinguished career. She comes to JHIPH and PHA after working for 12 years at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where she served in multiple leadership roles and managed a wide-ranging portfolio of health system and population health programs and teams across 65 countries worldwide. Most recently, she oversaw programs up to $350M in value focused on strengthening sustainable, climate-resilient health systems with shared investment from global health, democracy, environmental, and other sectors, receiving awards for translating complex systems thinking approaches into effective research and practice. Rachel also led USAID’s health systems implementation research portfolio and co-authored USAID’s Global Health Research Strategy 2030. In addition to her DrPH in Health Equity from BSPH, Rachel holds an MSc in Health, Community, and Development from the London School of Economics & Political Science and dual degrees in Psychology and Political Science from Yale University. Her studies and research have focused on relevant Planetary Health topics such as achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through cross-sectoral approaches, partnering with communities and local partners to achieve and sustain improved health outcomes, and conducting health equity capacity assessments and interventions.  

As Executive Director of JHIPH and PHA, Rachel will be a leading spokesperson for Planetary Health who helps to shape the vision, strategy and work of these organizations while managing two dynamic teams focused on building a Planetary Health community at JHU and growing the global Planetary Health community.  

While leaving her role as Executive Director, Dr. Marie Studer will continue her work with JHIPH and the PHA as a Senior Advisor. Marie’s leadership has been pivotal in growing PHA’s global consortium of organizations and individuals committed to working to understand and address the impacts of global environmental change on human health and well-being that now span over 80 countries. Her leadership has also been instrumental in forming JHIPH—one of the first cross-university Institute’s for Planetary Health in the world—and leading the strategy and engagements that have formed our programs and continue to build our community.   

Please join us in welcoming Rachel to her new role as we enter an exciting phase of growth and movement building to secure a healthier, more livable future for humanity and the rest of life on Earth.