Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson, a 2017 Vision Fellow, is an environmental consultant who served as the field biologist for the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Borne Illness Reduction Initiative. The Boards of Health of the six Island towns sponsored this program, beginning in 2011, to address the crucial local public health issues posed by Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. Dick’s three-year Fellowship project focused on the “big picture” effort to reduce ticks and tick-borne illnesses Island-wide. Matt Poole, the Edgartown Health Agent, supervised, and Dr. Sam Telford, an internationally renowned tick expert in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Tufts University, was an advisor to the program. Previously, Dick served for 18 years as the Executive Director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation.