Michael A. Stoto, Ph.D.

Faculty Affiliate

Michael A. Stoto, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Health, Georgetown University. He is also an adjunct professor of biostatistics and Senior Preparedness Fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. A statistician, epidemiologist, and health services researcher, Dr. Stoto’s research includes methodological topics in epidemiology and statistics including systematic reviews/meta-analysis and other analytical methods for comparative effectiveness research, community health assessment, evaluation methods, and performance measurement. His substantive research interests include public health practice, especially with regard to emergency preparedness; drug and vaccine safety; infectious disease policy; and ethical issues in research and public health practice.

Dr. Stoto is an expert on population health, public health assessment, and public health systems research (PHSR). His work has included systems-oriented evaluations of public health surveillance systems at the local to global level, evaluating community health assessments and performance measures with state and local health departments, and applying and developing rigorous mixed methods approaches to evaluating federal, state, and local public health systems. Much of Dr. Stoto’s recent PHSR work has focused on public health emergency preparedness, and he was the co-Principal Investigator of the CDC-funded Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center based at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Stoto’s work in this area has focused on regionalization in public health, the evaluation of biosurveillance methods, and the development of methods for assessing emergency preparedness capabilities based on exercises and actual events.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Stoto’s research has focused on surveillance systems to guide decision-making, interpretation of test results and policy for testing, and other aspects of public health practice at the local to global levels. He is currently working with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna on the assessment of public health emergency capabilities and capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic and on the implications monitoring and evaluation methodology for public health emergency preparedness.