Professional Profile
Ms. Nagar is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her primary research interests include global health security, misleading rumors and trust in public health, public health emergency preparedness and response, and One Health.
Her current projects at the Center focus on improving regional public health preparedness and response; building trust and addressing misleading health rumors in the US; analyzing and countering hybrid chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats; and assessing potential collaborations between India and the US on health and climate.
Her past efforts at the Center include developing the Tackling Rumors and Understanding & Strengthening Trust (TRUST) in Public Health website; creating a practical playbook for addressing misleading rumors in the US; assessing One Health capacities for responding to transboundary zoonotic diseases in Jordan and Iraq; recommending ways to improve integration of public health, primary care, and community-based organizations in the US; developing indicators to measure holistic pandemic recovery in the US; developing a global biorisk implementation and evaluation tool; organizing a bilateral biosecurity dialogue between India and the US; and establishing a nongovernmental health security center in Asia.
Before joining the Center, Ms. Nagar integrated gender equity and social inclusion into various global health and international development projects. Her work addressed global public health issues such as gender-based violence, menstrual health and hygiene, water and sanitation, child early and forced marriage, sexual and reproductive health, and more. She also has provided global health consulting services for organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children US, and academic institutions.
Ms. Nagar received her MPH degree with a specialization in global health from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. During her graduate studies, she studied maternal and child undernutrition in Haiti and contributed to The Lancet series on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health. She earned a BS in biology with minors in religion and philosophy from Wake Forest University, where she engaged in life sciences research, community organizing, and, after graduating, helped establish Wake Downtown, the locus for 3 new STEM undergraduate academic programs at the university.
