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Vellum № 11   The Manifesto Spring 2026 · Medical ResearchMedical Research Subject · Jordan Mercer

Prevent the disease, not just the diagnosis

A working physician and public-health researcher. Preventive cardiology, tobacco regulation, large-dataset epidemiology — the slow, unglamorous science behind the diagnoses you never get.

NameJordan Mercer
CredsMD, MPH
RolePostdoctoral Researcher
OrgJohns Hopkins
BasedBaltimore, MD
/ № 01 — Six theses ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Read in any order
№ 01 · Theses

Six things this practice believes.

i.

Prevention beats prediction.

The cleanest study is the one that changes a guideline, not the one that wins a poster prize.

ii.

Cigarettes & vapes are not the same problem.

Treating them as equivalent obscures what each is doing. The data sees them as distinct exposures.

iii.

Big data without bedside is malpractice.

Population analyses are only as good as the clinical intuition that frames them. Stay near the patient.

iv.

Co-author junior researchers.

An author line is the most efficient mentorship money can't buy. Be generous on the masthead.

v.

The CV is the byproduct.

The work is the work. Publication is its archive, not its purpose.

vi.

Write for two readers — clinical & lay.

If a paper can't survive translation to plain language, the finding probably isn't ready.

/ № 02 — The author ★ ★ ★ ~ 240 words

A working physician & a working researcher.

Jordan Mercer is a physician trained in Nigeria and a public health researcher trained at Johns Hopkins. His work sits at the intersection of preventive cardiology, tobacco regulation, and the everyday data that quietly decides who has a heart attack and who does not.

Since 2021 he has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, where he has led or co-authored more than fifteen peer-reviewed studies in journals including JAMA Network Open, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, and Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Before research, he practiced clinical medicine across internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, and surgery in Nigeria, and supervised a COVID-19 case-investigation team for the Baltimore City Health Department through the pandemic's first winter.

At a glance

FieldMedical Research
LabCiccarone Center
BasedBaltimore, MD
PIMichael Blaha
Emailhello@jordanmercer.com
OpenCollab · advising
/ № 03 — Counts ★  ★  ★  ★ Updated April '26

15+

Peer-reviewed

5

Years postdoc

3

Continents

538

Citations

/ № 04 — Proof ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Selected publications
№ 04 · Receipts

The archive, abridged.

'25

E-cigarettes & incident cardiometabolic conditions, ALL OF US.

Mercer J, Yao Z, Tasdighi E, Benjamin EJ, Bhatnagar A, Blaha MJ.

Nicotine & Tob. Res. ntaf067
'24

National & state SELECT trial eligibility & impact.

Mercer J, Khorsandi M, Blaha MJ.

JAMA Netw Open 7 (7)
'24

CAC for stroke-mortality prediction — Coronary Artery Calcium Consortium.

Mercer J, Boakye E, Dardari Z, et al.

Vasc Med 29 (2)
'23

E-cigarette use among US adults, BRFSS 2021.

Mercer J, Boakye E, Obisesan O, et al.

JAMA Netw Open 6 (11)
'23

Psychosocial stressors & e-cig use in YRBS.

Mercer J, Boakye E, Osuji N.

BMC Public Health 23 (1)
/ № 05 — Path ★ ★ ★ ★ 2008 — 26
2021 — Now

Postdoctoral Researcher

Johns Hopkins · Ciccarone Center · w/ Dr. Michael Blaha

2020 — '21

COVID-19 Supervisor

Baltimore City Health Department — case investigations team lead.

2019 — '20

MPH, Biostats & Epi

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

2019

Medical Resident

Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.

2017 — '18

Medical Officer

305 Special Mobility Group, Nigerian Air Force Medical Centre.

2008 — '15

MBChB, Medicine

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Write. Call.
Cite. Collaborate.

Email
hello@jordanmercer.com
JHU
jerhabo1@jh.edu
Scholar
scholar.google
LinkedIn
/in/jordanmercer