Josh Colston is a demographer, geospatial epidemiologist and a PhD student on the Global Disease Epidemiology and Control program at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. After completing a masters’ degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Josh spent five years working as a population health analyst for international development agencies in Washington DC, work which led him to travel extensively in Latin America. His research interests include infectious diseases of poverty and their social and economic determinants. He aims to use his analytical skills and conceptual knowledge to identify and quantify populations at risk, estimate resource requirements for intervention and model the impact of disease control programs under different intervention scenarios. In his spare time he enjoys playing the guitar, going on road trips and eating spicy seafood.
Education:
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
PhD in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control
August 2014 – Present
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Master of Science in Demography and Health
September 2007 – September 2008
Professional Experience:
The Demographic and Health Surveys Program, ICF International
Associate Health GIS Analyst
February 2013 – August 2014
The Flagstone – www.flagstoneonline.com
Freelance travel writer and blogger
September 2012 – January 2013
Inter-American Development Bank, Social Protection and Health Division
Research Fellow in Epidemiology for two major regional public health initiatives:
- Neglected Tropical Diseases Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC): Technical advisor
- The Salud Mesoamérica 2015 Initiative: Member of Coordination Unit
April 2009 – August 2012
Options UK Public Health Consultancy Firm
Research Intern
July 2007 – August 2007
Other Training:
Inter-American Development Bank, Salud Mesoamérica 2015
Three day workshop on Results-Based Financing
April 2011
Pan American Health Organization
Short course on Mapping and Modelling for Neglected Diseases in Latin America
December 2010
IDB Knowledge and Learning Sector
Training courses in impact evaluation, household surveys and cost-effectiveness analysis
October 2009
Computer skills:
STATA, ArcGIS 10, QGIS, EndNote, SAS, CSPro, Microsoft Office 2013
Language skills:
- English – Native
- Spanish – Advanced
- Chinese, Portuguese, French & German – Fair
- Tagalog – Beginner
International experience:
Belize, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname
Publications:
- Wang, Wenjuan, Michelle Winner, Clara Burgert, and Josh Colston. 2014. Influence of Service Readiness on Use of Facility Delivery Care: A Study Linking Health Facility Data and Population Data in Haiti. 114. DHS Working Papers. Rockville, Maryland: The DHS Program, ICF International. http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/WP114/WP114.pdf.
- Colston, Josh, and Clara Burgert. 2014. Using Geospatial Analysis to Inform Decision Making in Targeting Health Facility-Based Programs: A Guidance Document. Publication MS-14-88. University of North Carolina: MEASURE Evaluation, USAID. http://www.cpc.unc.edu/measure/publications/ms-14-88
- Burgert, Clara, Josh Colston, Thea Roy, and Blake Zachary. 2013. Geographic Displacement Procedure and Georeferenced Data Release Policy for the Demographic and Health Surveys. 7. Spatial Analysis Reports. Calverton, MD, USA: MEASURE DHS. http://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-SAR7-Spatial-Analysis-Reports.cfm.
- Colston, Josh, and Martha Saboyá. 2013. “Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis in Latin America and the Caribbean: Modelling the Determinants, Prevalence, Population at Risk, and Costs of Control at Sub-National Level.” Geospatial Health 7 (2): 321–40. http://geospatialhealth.net/index.php/gh/article/view/90
- Ozemela, Luana Marques Garcia, Judith Anne Morrison, Brittney Elise Bailey, and Josh Colston. 2012. “Afro-Descendants in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and the Challenges of Measuring Health Gaps.” presented at the International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora, July. http://issuu.com/idb_publications/docs/dipapaers_en_75398
- Colston, Josh. 2012. “The Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Role of Geospatial Analysis in Health Programmes.” Geospatial Health 6 (3): S11–14. doi:10.4081/gh.2012.117. http://www.geospatialhealth.net/index.php/gh/article/view/117/117
- Colston, Josh. 2011. The Use of Effective Coverage in the Evaluation of Maternal and Child Health Programs: A Technical Note for the IDB’s Social Protection and Health Division. Inter-American Development Bank. http://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/5231
- Colston, Josh. 2011. “Water and Sanitation to Tackle NTDs in Latin America and the Caribbean – the IDB Perspective.” End the Neglect. August 22. http://endtheneglect.org/2011/08/water-and-sanitation-to-tackle-ntds-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-%e2%80%93-the-idb%e2%80%99s-perspective/