Les Roberts
Associate Clinical Professor of Population and Family Health
E-mail: lfr2102@columbia.edu

Les Roberts, PhD, holds has a Masters degree in Public Health from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins. He did a post-doctorate fellowship in Epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where he worked for four years. In 1994, he worked as an epidemiologist for the World Health Organization in Rwanda during their civil war. He previously served as the Director of Health Policy at the International Rescue Committee. He is a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering where he teaches each fall. He teaches a class entitled Water and Sanitation in Complex Emergencies and the seven-week quantitative component of the Program’s Investigative Methods in Complex Emergencies course.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S and Roberts L. Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey. Lancet. Published online Oct. 11, 2006.

Cairns LK, Woodruff BA, Myatt M, Bartlett L, Goldberg H. and Roberts L.  Cross-sectional survey methods to assess retrospectively mortality in humanitarian emergencies.  Disasters. Vol. 10:3   2008.

Checci F, Roberts L. Interpreting and Using Mortality Data in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Primer for Non-Epidemiologists.  Humanitarian Policy Network Paper #52, 2005.

Checchi F, Roberts L.  Documenting mortality in crises: what keeps us from doing better?  PLoS Med. 2008 Jul 1;5(7):e146

Peterson AE, Roberts L, Toole MJ, et al. The Effect of Soap Distribution on Diarrhea: Nyamithuthu Refugee Camp.  Int. J. of Epi., 1998;27:520-524.

Roberts L.  Advances in monitoring have not translated into improvements in humanitarian health services.  Prehosp. Disaster Med. 2007 Sept-Oct;22(5):384-9.

Roberts L, Lafta R, Garfield R, et al. Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraw: cluster sample survey.  Lancet.  Published online, Oct. 29, 2004.

Roberts L, Hoffman C-A.  Assessing the impact of humanitarian assistance in the health sector. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. Vol. 1:3, October 7, 2004

Roberts L, Labula C, et al.  Elevated Mortality Associated With Armed Conflict --- Democratic Republic of Congo, 2002.  MMWR Vol. 52(20); 469-471.

Roberts L.  Little relief for eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.  Lancet (Dispatch) Vol. 357;9266:1421, May 5, 2001.

Roberts L, Chartier Y, Toole M, et al. Keeping Clean Water Clean in a Malawi Refugee Camp: A Randomized Intervention Trial. Bull. W.H.O., Vol. 79(4):280-287, 2001.

Salama P, Roberts L. Evidence-based interventions in complex emergencies. Lancet. 2005 May 28;365(9474):1848.

Semenza J, Roberts L, Henderson A, et al.  Water Distribution System and Diarrheal Disease Transmission: A Case Study in Uzbekistan.  Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 59(6), 1998, pp. 941-46.

Siegler A, Roberts L, Balch E. et al.  Media Coverage of Violent Deaths in Iraq:  An Opportunistic Capture-Recapture Analysis.  Prehosp. and Disaster Med. 2008; 23(4):369-371.