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Jodie Guest

  • Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
    Professor
Head shot of Jodie Guest

Overview

Dr. Jodie Guest is Professor and Senior Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health, Co-Director of the Office of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice in Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and Associate Program Director for the Physician Assistant Program at the School of Medicine, Emory University. She is the Research Impact Fellow for 2025 for Emory, working on communication of scholarship, particularly as it applied to promotion and tenure. In 2002, she won the Golden Apple for Excellence in Teaching for Emory Universitys School of Medicine and in 2011, she was awarded the Crystal Apple for excellence in graduate teaching at Emory University, the only student nominated teaching award at Emory. She was the inaugural awardee of the Faculty of Excellence Award for Emory University School of Medicine in 2014 and received the Teacher of Excellence Award for the School of Medicine in 2017. Dr. Guest was named the 2019 recipient of the Emory School of Medicine Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award. In 2020 and 2022, she was named the Professor of the Year at Rollins School of Public Health and won the Teaching Excellence Award for the Department of Epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health in 2020. She is also the 2023 Society for Epidemiologic Research Kenneth Rothman Career Achievement Winner. In 2023 she was named Distinguished Alumni of Rollins School of Public Health. In 2024 she was named the inaugural Emory Voice for Health Award to honor her work in media to further the mission of Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2025, she was named the Rural Health Care Hero of the year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as a recognition of her work as director of the Emory Farmworker Project, Emory's largest and longest running interprofessional program serving the farmworkers and pickers in South Georgia.

Dr. Guest has a broad background in epidemiology and specific expertise in HIV cohorts and clinical trials, emergency preparedness and science communication. She has focused much of her research in racial, sexual and gender minority populations in HIV care. She an investigator for PRISM health, a research group at Rollins focusing on HIV prevention and racial, sexual and gender minority populations in HIV care. She is the former Director of HIV Research at the Atlanta VA Medical Center where she co-founded the HIV Atlanta VA Cohort Study (HAVACS) and led more than 40 HIV-related studies. She is currently launching the new Science Communication Certificate at Rollins that she will direct starting fall 2025. She is Faculty Advisor for the Emory Board of Trustees, President Elect of the University Senate, serves as faculty for the CDCs Epidemiology Intelligence Service program and chaired the 2019 and 2024 National LGBTQ Health Conference hosted at Emory.

Beginning in March 2020, Dr. Guest has led Emorys Outbreak Response Team for COVID-19, working with poultry plant workers, communities in middle Georgia, the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta, and communities with limited access to vaccines and testing due to unstable housing. She has prepared public health plans for multiple community organizations including being the Iditarod COVID Czar for the 2021-2023 races. Dr. Guest also serves as the MPox advisor for the City of Atlanta. Dr. Guest has played a prominent role in engaging with local and national media since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and hosts Emorys weekly video updates about COVID-19. She was awarded Emorys 2021 MLK Community Service Award for her work with her Outbreak Response Team.

Her other community work currently includes Board of Trustees for Leadership Atlanta, LGBTQ Advisory Council for the Atlanta Mayor where she leads the LGBTQ Health Committee, Leadership Council for the Atlanta Zoo, Foundation Trustee for St. Martin's Episcopal School, and the Georgia Humanities Board of Directors. She has walked in 20 Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk where she serves as the Media Ambassador and is in the 1/2Mill fundraising club. She is the public health director for the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska and served as the COVID Czar 2021-2023.

Academic Appointment

  • Senior Vice Chair, Epidemiology, Emory University
  • Associate Program Director, PA Program, Emory University
  • Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Epidemiology, Emory University
  • Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Physician Assistant Program, Emory University School of Medicine

Education

Degrees

  • PhD from Emory University
  • MPH from Emory University
  • BA from Baylor University
  • Paramedic Certification from Texas A&M University at Scott and White Hospital

Research

Publications

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