Dr. Johnson’s research interest is in understanding how social experiences (e.g., poverty, parenting relationships, neighborhood characteristics, life events) shape the biology of child development. Specifically, she is interested in the development and plasticity of behavioral and physiological self-regulation. Her thesis research focused on neurodevelopment in adolescence and its implications for adolescent health policy, and social influences on neurodevelopmental trajectories. Other research interests include adolescent injury and violence prevention.

adolescent health, lifecourse perspective, developmental origins of health and disease, neurodevelopment, development of the stress response, plasticity

Delta Omega, Alpha Chapter, national public health honorary society, 2006

William Haddon, Jr. Fellowship in Injury Prevention, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2004-2005

National Institute of Mental Health, Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Interdisciplinary Research Training on Violence, T32 #MH20014, 2001-2003

School of Public Health Merit Scholarship, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 2000-2001

Phi Beta Kappa, 1997

Johnson SB, Sudhinaraset M, Blum RW. Adolescence: A social construction or a biological process? J Adolescent Research. In press.

Johnson SB, Blum RW, Giedd J. Adolescent maturity and the brain: The promise and pitfalls of neuroscience research in adolescent health policy. J Adolescent Health. 2009.45:216-221.

Moore EM, Johnson SB. The use of case reports, anecdotal evidence, and descriptive epidemiological studies in pediatric practice. Pediatrics in Review. 2009: 30(8): 323-324.

Johnson SB, Wang C. Why do adolescents say they are less healthy than their parents think they are? The importance of mental health varies by social class in a nationally representative sample. Pediatrics. 2008; 121(2): e307-313.

Johnson SB, Bradshaw CP, Wright JL, Haynie DL, Simons-Morton B, Cheng TL. Characterizing the teachable moment: is an emergency department visit a teachable moment for intervention among assault-injured youth and their parents? Pediatric Emergency Care. 2007; 23(8): 553-9.

Cheng TL, Johnson SB, Wright JL, Pearson-Fields AS, Brenner R, Schwarz D, O’Donnell R, Scheidt PC. Assault-injured adolescents presenting to the emergency department: causes and circumstances. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2006; 13(6) 601-606.

Vernick JS, Johnson SB, Webster DW. Firearm suicide in Maryland: characteristics of older versus younger suicide victims. Maryland Medicine. 2005; 6(3) 24-27

Johnson SB, Langlieb AL, Teret SP, Gross R, Schwab M, Massa J, Ashwell L, Geyh AS. Rethinking first response: effects of the clean up and recovery effort on workers at the World Trade Center disaster site. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2005; 47(4): 386-391.

Johnson SB, Frattaroli S, Campbell, J, Wright JL, Pearson-Fields CB, Ricardo I, Cheng TL. “I know what love is:” gender-based violence among urban youth. Journal of Women’s Health. 2005; 14(2): 172-179.

Johnson SB, Frattaroli S, Wright JL, Pearson-Fields CB, Ricardo I, Cheng TL. Urban youths’ perspectives on violence and the necessity of fighting. Injury Prevention. 2004; 10(5): 287-291.

Vernick JS, Pierce MW, Webster DW, Johnson SB, Frattaroli S. Technologies to detect concealed weapons: Fourth Amendment limits on a new public health and law enforcement tool. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. 2003; 31(4): 567-79.

Vernick JS, O’Brien M, Hepburn LM, Johnson SB, Webster W, Hargarten SW. Unintentional and undetermined firearm related deaths: a preventable death analysis for three safety devices. Injury Prevention. 2003; 9(4): 307-311.