Dr. Kadija Ferryman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a member of the Core Faculty at the University’s Berman Institute of Bioethics. She earned a B.A. in anthropology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from The New School for Social Research. Widely published, Kadija began her career more than 20 years ago as a policy researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. She splits her time between Westchester County, New York, and Baltimore.
*Published in the 2023 Alumnae Bulletin
What was it about anthropology that first attracted you? Is there a memory or experience from your earlier years that stands out?
I was raised in a family of Jamaican immigrants and grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a West Indian community. My upbringing sparked my interest in cultures, and how language, food, music, traditions and ways of understanding the world are part of identity. I was, and still feel very connected to, my Jamaican heritage as someone who was born and raised in the U.S.
I decided to major in anthropology after attending a medical anthropology lecture in the beginning of my time at Yale. The professor described the tendency of an individual to startle easily. She explained that this is not recognized as a medical condition in the U.S. but is in other places in the world. I realized anthropology was where I could learn about the big and small social differences that captivated my interest.
How would you characterize your career thus far?
My career thus far has not been linear. I loved anthropology, but as I was nearing the end of my undergraduate studies, I wasn’t sure what to do next. My senior thesis advisor suggested that I continue my studies in anthropology and get a Ph.D. But I wasn’t ready to go back to school after college — I wanted to work. I looked for research jobs because reading, writing and synthesizing information was what I enjoyed the most. When my college bestie got a research job at a policy organization in Washington, D.C., I expanded my search and landed a job at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in D.C. I worked there for six years, and I loved it! I mainly researched public housing transformation policy, and this was a great opportunity for me to learn about the cascading effects of racial segregation policies on people’s lives from their economic and educational opportunities to their health.
Although I loved my time at Urban, I was ready to go to graduate school to get that Ph.D., just as my advisor had recommended years prior. I also met my wonderful husband in D.C., and we moved to New York together. After nine long years in graduate school (!) and birthing my wonderful son along the way, I completed my Ph.D. and then two years of a postdoctoral program. I worked for a year as a researcher and then got my first academic appointment as a professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. After two years at Tandon, I took my current position at Johns Hopkins, where I am an assistant professor at our Bioethics Institute and the Health Policy Department at the School of Public Health.
Can you describe the accomplishments of which you are most proud?
I am most proud of finishing my dissertation! It was a long process, and I had to motivate myself. There was no external force making me meet deadlines. I had to summon a lot of discipline and courage. During my time at Urban, I was proud of the research we did examining the challenges faced by people who weren’t stably housed and were staying temporarily in closed and emptied public housing apartments. Also, I’m proud of the Fairness in Precision Medicine study, which I worked on during my time as a postdoctoral scholar at the Data & Society Research Institute. This was the first study to examine the promises and pitfalls of using “big data,” like genomics, data from electronic medical records and data from health apps in medical care.
Can you elaborate on your specific areas of expertise?
My research examines the social, cultural and ethical implications of health information technologies, specifically how genomics, digital medical records, artificial intelligence and other technologies impact racial disparities in health.
What do you find most rewarding about your position at Johns Hopkins? Most challenging?
My colleagues at Hopkins are smart and passionate people who are really committed to healthcare. What’s challenging is there are so many opportunities to be involved in research that it sometimes feels like drinking water from a fire hose!
For how long were you at Chapin? What resonates most about your years there?
I was at Chapin from fourth through 12th grade. I loved my time there. The teachers were fantastic! I learned writing and critical analysis skills that I use every single day. I also had such wonderful friends at Chapin. We really had a lot of fun — we were a very jovial bunch. I laughed to tears almost every day.
What does a typical day look like for you? How do you balance the demands of teaching with your own research endeavors?
Academia is a great sector to work in because, outside of set teaching hours, you essentially set your own schedule and are your own “boss.” Although I have faculty members who are supporting me on the path to promotion and tenure, it’s up to me how I complete the milestones to get to the next step. This ownership of one’s own time can also be challenging as it demands a lot of discipline. Being a professor is not a 9-5 job, so there is a lot of working during the evenings and weekends. That is a tradeoff that comes with the relative control of your schedule. But if research, writing and critical thinking appeal to you, it’s a great job to have.
Did your educational path lead you to your professional pursuits?
It’s funny how, although I didn’t necessarily plan out each phase of my career, I am critically examining social differences in health and medicine like I did in that first medical anthropology seminar at Yale. I’m also doing policy research again.
How do you like to relax and decompress?
I started jogging while I was completing my dissertation. I found that running not only helped relieve stress, but I also got some of my best research and writing ideas during my runs. I think moving my body helped to shift my brain into a different gear and actually opened up some windows to creativity.