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Sara Jahnke, Ph.D.

Firefighter Research

Sara Jahnke, PhD, is the director and a senior scientist with the Center for Fire, Rescue & EMS Health Research at the National Development & Research Institutes - USA. With over a decade of research experience on firefighter health, Dr. Jahnke has been the principal investigator on 10 national studies as well as dozens of studies as a co-investigator. Her work has focused on a range of health concerns, including the health of female firefighters, behavioral health, risk of injury, cancer, cardiovascular risk factors, and substance use, with funding from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant R&D Program, the National Institutes of Health and other foundations. Jahnke has more than 100 publications in the peer-reviewed medical literature. Awards include the 2019 Endowed Lecture at the annual conference of the American College of Epidemiology; the 2018 President’s Award for Excellence in Fire Service Research as well as the Excellence in Research, Safety, Health & Survival Award, both from the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); and the 2016 John Granito Award for Excellence in Firefighter Research from the International Journal of Fire Service Leadership and Management. Connect with Jahnke on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

LATET ARTICLES
Funding and the unseen groundwork lead the barriers to faster firefighter cancer research and results
Peer pressure and policy have drastically altered firefighters’ smoking habits more dramatically that what’s seen in the general population
It is more important to know firefighters’ physical abilities each year than at the beginning of their careers
We’ve built a solid body of evidence on firefighter health and well being for the white male majority group, yet have little data on others
It is the chief’s, the department’s and the community’s responsibility to provide exams; it’s the firefighters who should demand it
Not every firefighter reacts the same way to a bad call and a cookie-cutter debriefing may do more harm than good
Seemingly conflicting results shows the difficulty of research and the need for more of it
Logic predicts a decline in firefighter cancer, but what tomorrow’s furniture is made of remains a wildcard
By testing firefighters before and after overhaul activities, researchers hope to quantify their exposure risk to deadly airborne materials
Research on firefighters’ relationship to alcohol and how that compares to the general public reveals some interesting and useful findings