Lorna Thorpe is professor and director of the Division of Epidemiology at the NYU School of Medicine in the Department of Population Health, where she also serves as vice chair for strategy and planning.
Her research focuses on the intersection between epidemiology and policy in chronic disease prevention and management and on improving modern forms of population health surveillance.
Dr Thorpe currently leads several NIH and CDC-funded research initiatives, including: co-leading a CDC-funded Prevention Research Center to evaluate community-clinical linkage interventions to improve chronic disease management in low-income populations, an NCI-funded natural experiment to evaluate the health impacts of a smoke-free housing rule being implemented in public housing authorities, and a CDC-funded national study to examine community determinants of diabetes and obesity.
Twice in the past decade, Dr Thorpe has co-led a large health examination survey in New York City (NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NYC HANES). She also helped to develop and validate NYC Macroscope, a citywide electronic health record-based surveillance system.
Dr Thorpe is chair of the Policy Committee of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE), has served on Institute of Medicine committees, and has been an advisor to the CDC on population health surveillance.
Dr Thorpe spent 9 years at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as Deputy Commissioner of Epidemiology from 2004-2009. She also spent 7 years at the City University of New York School of Public Health directing their Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department.
Dr. Thorpe began her research career as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in international tuberculosis (TB) control, completed her Ph.D. in epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, M.P.H. at University of Michigan, and B.A. at Johns Hopkins University.
Lorna Thorpe is professor and director of the Division of Epidemiology at the NYU School of Medicine in the Department of Population Health, where she also serves as vice chair for strategy and planning.