Associate Professor of Epidemiology Sonja Swanson, ScD has been named editor-in-chief of Epidemiology, a leading journal of epidemiologic research and methodologic innovations. She will assume the role in January.
“It’s an honor and a challenge. I look forward to working with and learning from the journal’s authors, reviewers, board members and editors,” says Swanson, who was recruited to the School of Public Health faculty in 2022 from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
“Epidemiology is widely recognized as one of the world's three leading journals in the field,” explains David Savitz (PhD, EPI ’82), epidemiology professor emeritus at Brown University School of Public Health and a former Epidemiology editor. The journal stands “in a class by itself for innovation in epidemiologic methods and the application of those methods to critical public health concerns,” he says.
“Dr. Swanson’s appointment as editor-in-chief confirms her stature as one of the nation's leading experts in epidemiologic methods and the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health as a premier institution for education and application of cutting-edge research methods,” adds Savitz, who is also a member of Pitt Public Health’s board of visitors.
Tamara Dubowitz, ScD, MSc, SM, professor and chair, Department of Epidemiology, agrees. “Dr. Swanson has established herself as a nationally and internationally recognized expert in improving the use and transparency of causal inference methods for epidemiologic research, especially in the absence of randomized trials,” says Dubowitz. “She collaborates widely to get sound causal inference approaches put into practice, always with an eye to informing decision-making in ways that improve human health.”
Swanson’s research encompasses public health topics like firearm access and suicide risk. Using data from 523,182 handgun owners, Swanson showed that firearm suicide risk decreased by 50% or more when people relinquished their guns. She was also involved in a cohort study of 9.5 million women living in homes without guns showing that the suicide rate increased substantially after a cohabitant acquired a handgun compared with the rate among women in handgun-free households. The increased rate of suicide was entirely from an excess of firearm suicides.
Swanson is a 2025 recipient of an Ascending Star award from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, as well as the Brian MacMahon Early Career award from the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and the Kenneth Rothman Epidemiology Prize for the best paper published in Epidemiology based on clarity of thought, originality, importance and excellence in writing. She was appointed a For Women in Science National Laureate in 2017 and was a Next in Science speaker at the Radcliffe Institute that same year.
Swanson previously served as an editor for Epidemiology before taking on the top role and has also been an editor for the European Journal of Epidemiology, a statistical editor for JAMA Psychiatry, an editorial board member for Epidemiologic Methods and the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
“Dr. Swanson has made substantial contributions to the teaching, research, service and missions of the Department of Epidemiology and the school as a whole,” says Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, Pitt Public Health dean. “We are proud and convinced that she will provide the same outstanding leadership to this flagship epidemiologic journal.”
- Michele Dula Baum