Dr. Amanda Janitz has worked as an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) since 2015. After graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she worked as a pediatric oncology nurse. In 2009, she completed a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health with a focus on childhood cancer. Upon graduation, she worked as a Research Nurse in pediatric oncology before returning to the University of Oklahoma in 2010 to complete her doctorate with a goal of contributing to cancer research in Oklahoma. Dr. Janitz is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Dr. Janitz is working on projects to understand health disparities and environmental risk factors related to childhood cancers, including analysis of biomarkers, to understand etiology and survivorship issues. She has worked with tribes or tribal- serving organizations for over ten years. In partnership with Chickasaw Nation, Dr. Janitz is a co-Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded research project to evaluate exposure to both aeroallergens (e.g., pollens) and anthropogenic air pollution (e.g., ozone) and asthma exacerbations using mobile health devices and personal air samplers. Dr. Janitz is also a co-Project Director of the Cherokee Nation Health Analytics Core, a capacity building project of the Cherokee Nation Native American Research Center for Health focused on cancer. Dr. Janitz is also involved in the COVID-19 response in partnership with Cherokee Nation to improve testing and contact tracing and is working with the Oklahoma Shared Clinical Translational Resources Center on an NIH-funded study to evaluate and address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.