Jennifer L Chan

Jennifer L. Chan, MD, MPH, FACEP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. She maintains hospital privileges at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and holds affiliated positions at the Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM), the Buffet Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health. Additionally, she has been an Affiliated Expert with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative since 2005.

Her education includes a BS from Columbia University (1997), MD from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (2003), and MPH from Tulane University (2003). She completed residency training in Emergency Medicine (2007) and a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine (2008) at Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard University, and is board-certified in Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Chan's research focuses on humanitarian data science, crisis informatics, and public health emergency response. She investigates social media big data analytics, health ontologies, and novel methods for crisis data content analysis. Her work includes advancing stochastic modeling for humanitarian logistics and data transformation techniques for mass participation events. She maintains active collaborations with NGOs, UN agencies (NetHope, UN Centre for Humanitarian Data), and corporate partners (ESRI, Tableau) in disaster response technology innovation.

Her recent publications (2023-2024) demonstrate a strong focus on disaster response methodologies, public health informatics in crises, and structural reforms in global emergency medicine. Research themes consistently address technology applications in humanitarian contexts, health equity frameworks, and climate-related health impacts.

Major Scientific Awards:

• Northwestern Teaching Recognition (2016)
• Feinberg Faculty Recognition (2015)
• SAEM Humanitarian Service Award (2014)
• Brigham & Women's Humanism Award (2006)
• Partners Healthcare Excellence Award (2005)

She leads multiple advisory roles including current positions with NetHope's Crisis Informatics Program, United Nations Centre for Humanitarian Data, and the Social Emergency Medicine Collaborative. As an NSF co-investigator, she has developed models for humanitarian logistics. She founded the Disaster Resilience Lab and coordinates the Chicago Social Emergency Medicine Collaborative.

Dr. Chan maintains active laboratory and team leadership through her Crisis Informatics research group at Feinberg, collaborations with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and direction of the NetHope Crisis Informatics Program. She serves as Associate Editor for Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness and participates in numerous professional societies including the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and American College of Emergency Physicians.