- Affiliate Professor, Global Health
- Affiliate Professor, Epidemiology
Select from the following:
Dr. Walson is chair of the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School and the inaugural Robert E. Black Chair in International Health. Walson is a physician trained in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Infectious Diseases with extensive experience working in research, public health programming, policy development, product development, and clinical practice. His research focuses on interventions to improve child survival, growth, and development in Africa and South Asia. He collaborates with ministries of health, NGOs, and academic partners in Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uganda. Walson has conducted numerous trials investigating poor nutrition and infectious diseases to inform improvements in policy and programs globally. He has also worked in product development across vaccines, diagnostics, and devices.
He co-leads the Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network, a collaboration of experts working at institutions across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The studies conducted under the network have led to the development of strategies to reduce mortality among acutely ill children. The research has also led to novel approaches enabling risk-differentiated care, ensuring those at highest risk are supported adequately both during and after contact with the health system. He also leads the DeWorm3 study—a large community cluster randomized trial focused on eliminating soil-transmitted helminths that has enrolled over 360,000 individuals in Benin, Malawi, and India. These intestinal parasites include roundworm and hookworm and are among the most common causes of infections in humans, disproportionately impacting communities living in poverty.
- MPH (Tufts University)
- BA (Pitzer College)
- MD (Tufts University)
- Nepali
- Child and Adolescent Health (incl. Pediatrics)
- Child Mortality
- Diarrheal Diseases
- Epidemiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Infectious Diseases (other than STDs)
- Malaria
- Maternal Child Health (incl. Reproductive Health)
- Mortality
- Neglected Diseases, Tropical Medicine (incl. Parasites)
- Trop. Med (incl. Parasites)
- Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)
- Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE)
- Disease Control Priorities Network (DCPN)
- Global Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents and Children (Global WACh)
- Kenya Research and Training Center (KRTC)
- Strategic Analysis, Research & Training (START) Center
- Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE)
Infectious disease; diarrheal disease, neglected infectious diseases, febrile illness, global health, environmental enteric dysfunction, climate change and health
- Lactoferrin and lysozyme to promote nutritional, clinical, and enteric recovery: A factorial placebo-controlled randomized trial among children with diarrhea and malnutrition.
- The Childhood Acute Illness & Nutrition (CHAIN) Network
- The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Consortium
- The role of enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in driving clinical and nutritional deterioration, and azithromycin's potential effect, among children discharged from hospital in Kenya
The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition Network. Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network: a protocol for a multi-site prospective cohort study to identify modifiable risk factors for mortality among acutely ill children in Africa and Asia. The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition Network. BMJ Open. 2019 Mar; 9:1-8e028454. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028454.
PMCID: PMC6502050.
A double-blind placebo-controlled trial of azithromycin to reduce mortality and improve growth in high-risk young children with non-bloody diarrhoea in low resource settings: the Antibiotics for Children with Diarrhoea (ABCD) trial protocol. Trials. 2020 Jan 13;21(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3829-y.
Walson JL, Pavlinac PB. Targeting enteric pathogens to improve childhood survival and growth. Lance Glob Health. 2018 Oct; 6(12):e1258-e1259. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30453-4.
Ásbjörnsdóttir KH, Ajjampur SSR, Anderson RM, Bailey R, Gardiner I, Halliday KE, Ibikounle M, Kalua K, Kang G, Littlewood DTJ, Luty AJF, Means AR, Oswald W, Pullan RL, Sarkar R, Schär F, Szpiro A, Truscott JE, Werkman M, Yard E, Walson JL; DeWorm3 Trials Team. Assessing the feasibility of interrupting the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths through mass drug administration: The DeWorm3 cluster randomized trial protocol. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan;12(1):e0006166. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006166. PMCID: PMC5773085. [Original Work]
Means AR, Ajjampur SSR, Bailey R, Galactionova K, Gwayi-Chore MC, Halliday K, Ibikounle M, Juvekar S, Kalua K, Kang G, Lele P, Luty AJF, Pullan R, Sarkar R, Schär F, Tediosi F, Weiner BJ, Yard E, Walson J; DeWorm3 Implementation Science Team. Evaluating the sustainability, scalability, and replicability of an STH transmission interruption intervention: The DeWorm3 implementation science protocol. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan;12(1):e0005988. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005988. PMCID:PMC5773078.