Matthew Shearer, MPH
Senior Analyst, Research Associate

Professional Profile

Mr. Shearer is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His primary research interests include infectious disease outbreak and bioterrorism response. He is also interested in the use of stochastic simulations to model the impact of preparation and response policy on public health emergencies.

Mr. Shearer serves as an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security, and he has previously contributed to projects exploring risk communication for medical countermeasures, infectious disease surveillance, and international collaboration for infectious disease incident response. He was part of the External Assessment Team that conducted a Joint External Evaluation (JEE) to assess Taiwan’s preparedness and response capabilities and their progress toward implementing the International Health Regulations (2005). He is currently working on multiple projects evaluating the US domestic response to Ebola and building health sector resilience to a variety of incidents, including those involving highly infectious or dangerous pathogens. Mr. Shearer is part of the project team for the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative (ELBI) Fellowship program. In 2016, he represented the Center and the ELBI program at the 8th Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to joining the Center, he served as Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Officer in the US Navy. Additionally, he conducted medical countermeasure exercises, conducted infectious disease surveillance and outbreak investigations, and supported emergency preparedness activities—including Ebola preparation and returning traveler monitoring—at local health departments in Michigan and California.

Mr. Shearer earned a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Michigan in 2014 and a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 2007.