Dr. Amelia Greiner Safi is a social and behavioral scientist with expertise in multilevel influences on health, strategic public health communication, health disparities and intervention planning. A common thread in her work is translational work – linking research to practice and policy. For the past 15 years, Dr. Safi participated in and led collaborative, multidisciplinary, and engaged research. She has often served as a bridge across disciplines, professions to find common interests in order to advance health and environmental outcomes. Much of this work has a health disparities, vulnerability or equity focus. In the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, she teaches Public Health Foundations 2 (VTPEH 6102) – an exploration of multilevel influences on health and Public Health Communication (VTPEH 6191) which blends theory, design, engaged partnerships and tailoring a final product to the specific needs of an audience.
Dr. Safi’s current research and engaged public health work falls into 7 domains. They each involve multidisciplinary teams, and many involve non-academic collaborators as core research team members
1. Cancer Disparities (Screening and Outcomes)
2. Flooding, Buyouts, Sustainability and Social Vulnerability
3. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Perceptions and Behavior Change
4. Consulting re Strategic Public Health Communication
5. Identifying and Addressing Discrimination in Healthcare
6. Creating Workforce Development Trainings and Public Education about Public Health, Research Methods, Strategic Communication and Behavior Change
7. Warning Labels on Cigarettes and E-cigarettes (PIs Byrne and Niederdeppe)
Past activities have included providing insight from the social and behavioral sciences to a convening of the Rockefeller/Lancet partnership to advance the field of Planetary Health. At the UN Ocean Conference in June of 2017, she served on a panel with journalists to blend science and practice to improve ocean literacy, with the ultimate goal of advancing progress on Sustainable Development Goal #14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. From 2007-2015, Dr. Safi was involved in evaluating Baltimore City first zoning code rewrite in over 40 years, with a focus of identifying how a zoning rewrite could be as health promoting as possible and documented the opportunities and challenges of linking urban planning and public health, with particular attention to health disparities. This work informed a Health Impact Assessment of the zoning rewrite funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This HIA along with extensive collaboration with and independent efforts from fellow researchers, NGOs, community organizations, local government and residents helped lead to the inclusion of current health considerations in the zoning rewrite. She has led CDC-funded research to evaluate a detailing campaign to improve HIV screening practices among primary care providers in Baltimore (PI: Jacky Jennings). In assessing the intersection of media, public health and ecosystem health, Dr. Safi evaluated how various news media outlets present risk and benefits of seafood consumption in response to seafood advisories and after disasters such as the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
