Shawn is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, an interdisciplinary academic center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. With a diverse portfolio of research, education, and practice activities the Center addresses some of the most pressing issues in food systems affecting public health and the environment. Shawn has extensive experience in the development of public health programs and previously served in several leadership capacities at the Center.

He joined the Bloomberg School in 1999 as a program officer, and in 2006 joined the faculty in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. His public health career began in the field with UNICEF, where he managed projects supporting United Nations programs in Central and Southeast Asia. Shawn holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and a Master of Public Health from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.