About

Jennifer J Beard, PhD, MPH, MA, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Global Health at Boston University School of Public Health. Her academic background includes a BA in English literature from Youngstown State University, an MA in Victorian literature from Ohio University, and a PhD in English Literature from the University of New Hampshire, with a specialization in twentieth-century British women writers. While she has been working in public health for two decades, her interests are rooted in her passion for literature and storytelling, which she integrates into her public health teaching and research. Dr. Beard developed and leads the BUSPH Public Health Writing Program and authored 'Teaching Public Health Writing' (Oxford University Press, 2022). She co-founded the BU Program for Global Health Storytelling and co-directs the BUMC Narrative Writing Program, supporting faculty researchers and clinicians in exploring narrative writing. She is the senior editor of Public Health Post, mentoring student writing fellows and guest authors to translate research for broader audiences. Her scholarship explores the intersection of population health, arts and humanities, and journalism, and she teaches courses in global mental health and global health journalism, incorporating fiction and creative non-fiction. Her research includes qualitative studies on HIV risk populations in Ghana, focusing on harm reduction policies, and she partners internationally to cultivate a global public health writing community.

Research topics

• Nursing
• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Public relations
• Family medicine
• Pedagogy
• Virology
• Medical education
• Library science
• Internet privacy
• Demography
• Pediatrics
• Biology

Selected publications

• Writing Beyond the Academic Context: Exploring Writing Among Public Health Practitioners

  Public Health Reports · 2025-07-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVES: Public health work involves diverse types of writing to communicate health messages to various audiences. Clear, concise, audience-oriented writing is essential, yet public health practitioners often receive little training in effective writing. This study explores the writing public health practitioners do in their everyday work. METHODS: We emailed a web-based questionnaire in April 2024 to a sample of public health practitioners working in municipalities, regional health departments, governmental agencies, and nongovernmental organizations in 5 regions in Sweden. The questionnaire asked about writing, support, professional development, and writing self-efficacy. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and content analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-two public health practitioners responded to our questionnaire. The most common types of writing that respondents reported engaging in were presentations (88.9%), reports (59.7%), and decision-making documents (47.2%). Scientific articles (75.0%), blog posts (69.4%), and opinion pieces (56.9%) were the least common. The most common target audiences were politicians, followed by managers and citizens. Colleagues provided the most common source of writing support, followed by communication officers and managers. Most practitioners reported a desire to develop their professional writing skills and achieve high self-efficacy in public health writing. CONCLUSIONS: Public health practitioners in Sweden write more for politicians and managers than for the public. Expanding practitioners' writing skills beyond operational and technical document writing to include public-facing writing will benefit the public health profession by opening communication channels to diverse audiences. Communicating more clearly with public audiences can improve health literacy, promote health for all, and strengthen the effectiveness of public health initiatives.

  PublisherDOI

• Filling a critical gap: a qualitative study of HIV prevention needs and vulnerability among older sexual minority men in Ghana

  Discover Social Science and Health · 2025-02-17

  articleOpen access

  Ghana’s HIV prevalence in the general population is relatively low at 1.7%, but concentrated at much higher levels among key populations, particularly sexual minority men. Vulnerability will likely increase if a popular bill discriminating against sexual minorities is signed into law. Men over age 30 are at greater risk for HIV compared to their younger counterparts, yet little is known about their prevention needs. We describe a qualitative study that explored protective behaviors and vulnerabilities among older sexual minority men in Kumasi. We used snowball sampling to recruit sexual minority men aged 30 and older for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Semi-structured guides posed questions about HIV knowledge, condom use, alcohol and substance use, access to health services, and experiences of stigma and discrimination. Forty-four men aged 30 to 48 years participated: 20 in in-depth interviews and 24 in 4 focus group discussions. Most respondents described engaging in protective behaviors, including condom use and HIV testing. Many also revealed vulnerabilities such as HIV knowledge gaps and inconsistent condom use. Stigma and discrimination were persistent challenges. This qualitative study helps fill a critical knowledge gap related to the experiences and challenges faced by older sexual minority men. The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill threatens sexual minorities and health services focused on meeting their needs, and will undo years of HIV prevention and treatment programming. We suggest future avenues for providing health care that meets the specific needs of sexual minority men.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Idea Of A Good Daughter

  Health Affairs · 2024-12-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A public health professor and her mother failed to receive long-term care support from the health care system when they needed it most.

  PublisherDOI

• Aetiology of diarrhoea in children aged zero to nine years in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review

  Journal of Global Health · 2024-11-01 · 8 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Background: While diarrhoeal disease remains a leading cause of death in children aged <5 years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), it also poses significant health risks for older children, underscoring the importance of our study focusing on children aged <10 years. In this systematic review, we assessed common diarrhoea aetiologies in children aged <10 years in LMICs. Methods: We identified relevant articles in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science using pre-defined search criteria. We included case series and case-control studies of children aged <10 years with non-bloody, bloody, acute, persistent, and chronic diarrhoea. Articles that evaluated two or more diarrhoea pathogens in LMICs conducted between 1 January 1990 and 31 July 2020 were eligible for inclusion. We stratified combined data from case series and case-control studies by age and World Health Organization (WHO) regions. Results: 76 studies published between 1990-2020 were eligible for inclusion. Among these, eight were case-control studies. 56 papers focused only on children aged <5 years, while 20 also included children aged ≥5 years. The most common viral pathogens among <5 years old children were rotavirus, norovirus, adenovirus, and astrovirus. Bacterial pathogens included Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Shigella species, and Campylobacter species, while parasitic pathogens included Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Entamoeba species. Rotavirus was the most common viral pathogen among children across all age groups and every WHO region. Escherichia coli was prevalent in all age groups and was responsible for most diarrhoea cases in the African Region. Among parasitic pathogens, Entamoeba species and Giardia were prevalent in children aged three to five years, with the former a major cause of diarrhoea in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Similarly, in children aged six to 10 years, bacterial pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Shigella, suggest a continued significance of these pathogens beyond the age of five. Common viral pathogens for this group were rotavirus, norovirus, and sapovirus, although the number of studies for this age group is limited. Conclusions: Escherichia coli, rotavirus, and Entamoeba species were the most common pathogens responsible for diarrhoea in children aged <5 years in LMICs. Future research should focus on characterising the pathogens responsible for causing diarrhoea in children aged six to 10 years stratified by geographic area of residence, i.e. WHO region and urban vs rural. Case-control or cohort studies covering a full 12-month period to account for seasonality are needed for a more accurate picture of diarrhoea aetiology among children. Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42020204005).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Filling a Critical Gap: A Qualitative Study of HIV Prevention and Vulnerability Among Older Sexual Minority Men in Ghana

  Research Square · 2024-12-04

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Balancing Faculty Autonomy With Collaboration, Course Updates, and Consistency in Core Courses: Recommendations for Teaching Teams and Administrators of Schools and Programs of Public Health

  Pedagogy in Health Promotion · 2024-12-10

  article

  Master of Public Health (MPH) “core courses” are essential preparation for advanced study and professional practice. As a multidisciplinary, core course teaching team, we aim to balance collaboration, the need to update content, and consistency across sections with faculty autonomy, while also attending to time constraints and Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accreditation requirements. In this paper, we describe and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the four strategies we used to illuminate how we spend class time, prioritize content, and balance institutional consistency with instructor individuality. The strategies are: create common course materials; hold regular instructional team meetings; capture teacher impressions after each weekly class; and conduct individual syllabus and semester review interviews with the teaching team. Analysis led to seven recommendations for both teaching teams and administrators of schools and programs of public health that have the potential to improve the teaching of core subjects. Core courses present instructors with opportunities to feature our specific departments and potentially inspire students to work in our specialty areas. These findings are relevant to colleagues who are striving to respect the autonomy to which many in academia are accustomed and help ensure students enjoy consistent, high-quality experiences in team-taught courses.

  PublisherDOI

• Identifying and Dismantling Racist Narratives to Promote Health Equity

  2023-01-01 · 2 citations

  article

  This commentary calls for a collective shift towards identifying and dismantling the pervasive racist health narratives contributing to and perpetuating health inequities. We define narrative and narrative change in the context of health equity, provide the context of racist health narratives, and elevate specific policies and efforts that can shift the narrative around racial inequities in health and health care. Researchers, individuals, organizations implementing interventions, and other stakeholders need to identify and unravel harmful narratives to advance equitable care and health outcomes.

  PublisherDOI

• Antibiotic resistance trends for common bacterial aetiologies of childhood diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review

  Journal of Global Health · 2023-07-21 · 22 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Background: Diarrhoea is the second most common cause of death among children under the age of five worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends treating diarrhoea with oral rehydration therapy, intravenous fluids for severe dehydration, and zinc supplements. Antibiotics are only recommended to treat acute, invasive diarrhoea. Rising antibiotic resistance has led to a decrease in the effectiveness of treatments for diarrhoea. Methods: A systematic literature review in PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE was conducted to identify articles relevant to antibiotic-resistant childhood diarrhoea. Articles in English published between 1990 to 2020 that described antibiotic resistance patterns of common pathogens causing childhood diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries were included. The studies were limited to papers that categorized children as 0-5 years or 0-10 years old. The proportion of isolates with resistance to major classes of antibiotics stratified by major WHO global regions and time was determined. Results: Quantitative data were extracted from 44 articles that met screening criteria; most focused on children under five years. Escherichia coli isolates had relatively high resistance rates to ampicillin and tetracycline in the African (AFR), American (AMR), and Eastern Mediterranean Regions (EMR). There was moderate to high resistance to ampicillin and third generation cephalosporins among Salmonella spp in the AFR, EMR, and the Western Pacific Region (WPR). Resistance rates for ampicillin, co-trimoxazole, and chloramphenicol for Shigella in the AFR started at an alarmingly high rate ( ~ 90%) in 2006 and fluctuated over time. There were limited antibiotic resistance data for Aeromonas, Yersinia, and V. cholerae. The 161 isolates of Campylobacter analysed showed initially low rates of fluoroquinolone resistance with high rates of resistance in recent years, especially in the Southeast Asian Region. Conclusions: Resistance to inexpensive antibiotics for treatment of invasive diarrhoea in children under ten years is widespread (although data on 6- to 10-year-old children are limited), and resistance rates to fluoroquinolones and later-generation cephalosporins are increasing. A strong regional surveillance system is needed to carefully monitor trends in antibiotic resistance, future studies should include school-aged children, and interventions are needed to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics for the treatment of community-acquired, non-invasive diarrhoea. Registration: This systematic review was registered in Prospero (registration number CRD42020204004) in August 2020.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Designing Writing Assignments for Public Health Classes

  2022-09-22

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Public health professionals do many types of writing. Each has its own audience and purpose. Our readers tend to be busy and easily distracted. Public health students at all educational levels need clear instructions about audience, purpose, and genre. The interdisciplinary nature of public health means that students will often be unfamiliar with the types of documents we ask them to write. Chapter 3 offers guidance on designing clear, detailed writing assignments that allow students to practice different types of public health writing for various readers and purposes. Because public health programs draw students from a wide array of disciplines, professional, and cultural backgrounds, professors cannot assume students will know what a determinants analysis or policy brief is, let alone how to write one. At their best, writing assignment instructions suggest outlines and clearly identify both the intended reader and objective of the document.

  PublisherDOI

• Importance of breastfeeding and complementary feeding for management and prevention of childhood diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries

  Journal of Global Health · 2022 · 28 citations

  • Medicine
  • Demography
  • Pediatrics

  Background: Early and exclusive breastfeeding have been shown to protect young infants from all-cause and diarrhoea-related mortality. Ideally breastfeeding should be initiated within the first hour of birth. Despite efforts to increase rates of early and exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), challenges with uptake remain. This analysis reviews trends in early and exclusive breastfeeding, and the impact of infant feeding interventions in reducing childhood diarrhoea. Methods: We conducted a detailed review of articles written in English between 1990 and 2020 on the impact and efficacy of breastfeeding and complementary feeding on diarrhoea in children aged 0-2 years in LMICs. Using data from 86 countries and all WHO global regions collected from the mid-1980s through 2018 obtained from publicly available Demographic Health Surveys, we assessed trends in five-year intervals of timing of breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, median and mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and complementary feeding. Results: The literature search identified ten articles that described variable rates of early initiation of breastfeeding from 20% in Pakistan to 76% in Egypt. An analysis of 288 DHS studies found that the proportion of women who reported initiating breastfeeding within an hour of birth increased from 32% in the early 1990s to 55% between 2016 and 2020. Exclusive breastfeeding increased from 20% in the late 1980s to 48% between 2016 and 2020 and the mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding of 2-to-4-month-old infants doubled. Early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding was associated with reductions in diarrhoea prevalence in the South East Asian, Western Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, and African regions. Eight studies evaluating the effectiveness of different maternal education interventions, health care worker training, and media campaigns demonstrated improvements in exclusive breastfeeding, and most resulted in reductions in the incidence or duration of diarrhoea. Conclusions: During the last two decades, early and exclusive breastfeeding have increased. Nevertheless, the uptake of this basic, low-cost intervention remains suboptimal across all global regions. Given the potential benefits the in reduction of diarrhoea and diarrhoea-associated mortality, interventions for improving the uptake of early and exclusive breastfeeding in different sociological contexts need to be designed, implemented, and evaluated.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Yaw Adu‐Sarkodie

  Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

  23 shared

• Lora Sabin

  Boston University

  23 shared

• Thomas Agyarko‐Poku

  Ghana Health Service

  20 shared

• Mary Bachman DeSilva

  19 shared

• Jonathon Simon

  17 shared

• Ariel Falconer

  Center for Global Health

  11 shared

• Paul G. Ashigbie

  Novartis (United States)

  9 shared

• Monica Adhiambo Onyango

  Boston University

  8 shared

Labs

• Activist LabPI

Education

• MPH, Department of Global Health

  Boston University School of Public Health

  2006

• PhD, English Department

  University of New Hampshire

  1999

• MA, English Department

  Ohio University

  1991

• BA, English Department

  Youngstown State University

  1987