About the Editors
Joseph J. Amon, PhD, MSPH, Editor-in-Chief
Joe Amon was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Health and Human Rights in November 2023. From 2019-2023, he was the Journal’s Senior Editor.
He is the Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and Distinguished Professor of the Practice in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to his appointment in October 2024, Amon was the Director of the Office of Global Health and Clinical Professor at the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health. Trained in molecular parasitology, he has worked for a wide range of governmental and non-governmental organizations. During his ten-year tenure at Human Rights Watch he founded programs on human rights and health, disability and the environment. Dr. Amon has also held visiting or adjunct academic appointments with Paris School of International Affairs (SciencesPo), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Princeton, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins Universities.
Using quantitative, qualitative and legal/policy analysis, Dr. Amon has conducted research on how (and why) specific populations, and diseases, are neglected, and on the impact of political determinants, such as laws, and their enforcement, on health. This work has examined the impact of discrimination on access to prevention and treatment; censorship and the denial of health information; arbitrary detention; the “judicialization” of health; and the role of civil society in the response to infectious disease outbreaks and environmental health threats. He is also on the editorial board and ethics committee of the Journal of the International AIDS Society.
He is the Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and Distinguished Professor of the Practice in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to his appointment in October 2024, Amon was the Director of the Office of Global Health and Clinical Professor at the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health. Trained in molecular parasitology, he has worked for a wide range of governmental and non-governmental organizations. During his ten-year tenure at Human Rights Watch he founded programs on human rights and health, disability and the environment. Dr. Amon has also held visiting or adjunct academic appointments with Paris School of International Affairs (SciencesPo), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Princeton, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins Universities.
Using quantitative, qualitative and legal/policy analysis, Dr. Amon has conducted research on how (and why) specific populations, and diseases, are neglected, and on the impact of political determinants, such as laws, and their enforcement, on health. This work has examined the impact of discrimination on access to prevention and treatment; censorship and the denial of health information; arbitrary detention; the “judicialization” of health; and the role of civil society in the response to infectious disease outbreaks and environmental health threats. He is also on the editorial board and ethics committee of the Journal of the International AIDS Society.
Carmel Williams, PhD, MA, Executive Editor
Carmel Williams has been executive editor of HHR since 2012. She has a PhD in community health and master’s degree in development studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She worked in health publishing and global health for many years, including 10 years as the executive director of a health NGO working throughout the Pacific. Dr. Williams’ research interests include the operationalisation of the right to health.
