Jonathan Mark Zenilman, MD

Dr. Jonathan M. Zenilman is a professor of medicine,  at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also has joint appointments in population family and reproductive health, international health, and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Zenilman is known internationally for his work in infectious disease epidemiology. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins in 1989, he was a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where he developed the National Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Program (GISP). , which has operated continuously since 1987. He also coordinated and wrote the 1989 STD Treatment Guidelines and has continuously consulted with CDC since.

In Baltimore, his activities have included directing the Baltimore City Health Department Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) program and developing the Johns Hopkins Center for STI Prevention and Training. His research encompassed nearly all areas of STD behavioral science and clinical epidemiology, as well as extensive experience in conducting Phase 1 through Phase 3 clinical trials for drugs and vaccines. In addition to being a productive researcher and clinician, he has been active in health policy, has served as a Senior Medical Advisor for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (DHHS) 1995-1997, has testified before Congress and the Maryland legislature on infectious diseases related issues. He has been a technical consultant on numerous advisory committees for CDC, NIH, DoD, and the US Presidential Commission on Bioethical Issues and on numerous data safety monitoring committees for drugs and vaccines. 

From 2003 until 2019 he was chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where in 2003 he implemented major clinical and research programs in STIs, hospital epidemiology, antibiotic stewardship, and skin and soft tissue infections. Since April 2020, he served as the Chairperson of the independent Data Safety Monitoring Committee for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine program.

Dr. Zenilman has >360 publications and is an active teacher, mentoring more than 50 fellows and residents during his career.