Dr. Johnson joined the Brown School as an Assistant Professor in the Master of Public Health program in August of 2010. She teaches a foundations course in epidemiology and a course in cancer epidemiology. Prior to coming to Washington University, Dr. Johnson was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on understanding the genetic and environmental causes of childhood cancer. Toward this end during her pre and post-doctoral work, Dr. Johnson conducted several studies that focused on understanding the role of early-life factors in childhood cancer including: congenital abnormalities, maternal vitamin supplementation, occupational exposure to low dose radiation during pregnancy, and advanced maternal age.

At Washington University, Dr. Johnson continues her research in childhood cancer. She is supported by the Genome Institute as a team member on the Washington University/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Pediatric Cancer Genome Project to understand genetic factors in childhood cancer using whole genome sequencing. Dr. Johnson is also working on two projects that aim to understand whether maternal folic acid exposure during pregnancy can prevent childhood cancer. Finally, Dr. Johnson is spearheading work at Washington University to develop a large international registry of individuals with Neurofibromatosis Type I, an inherited cancer syndrome that predisposes individuals to several childhood cancer types. The registry will enable research aimed at understanding environmental and genetic risk factors that influence early onset cancer development in high risk individuals.