Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor

Epidemiology

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Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, PhD, MPH

In public health we have a moral imperative to fight for social justice. I find and help underdogs, and I say what needs to be said. I bring my whole self to everything that I do, because I think that matters. 

Contact

1841 Neil Ave.
344 Cunz Hall
Columbus, OH 43210
Email: sealy-jefferson.1@osu.edu
Phone: 614-292-9534

Dr. Sealy-Jefferson is a social epidemiologist whose primary research seeks action to combat manifestations of structural racism that limit the human rights of Black families and communities. Dr. Sealy-Jefferson is the founder, director and principal investigator of the Social Epidemiology to Eliminate Disparities (SEED) Lab. The mission of the SEED Lab is to conduct high quality epidemiologic research to find solutions to the disproportionate burden of infant mortality among Black women. Dr. Sealy-Jefferson’s scholar-activism draws from the Reproductive Justice Framework and seeks to empirically document associations between systems of oppression and preterm birth; explicate the intervening biologic, social and psychosocial mechanisms; and identify effect modifiers of these associations among Black women. The goal of her scholarship is to inform future intervention studies, policy change and social activism.

Dr. Sealy-Jefferson is the principal investigator of the Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions (SECURE) study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In partnership with a community advisory board of Black women leaders, the SECURE study is documenting the magnitude and severity of court-ordered and illegal residential evictions, as well as their impact on the health of Black families in Detroit. This mixed-methodology multi-level study prioritizes community power and agency and centers the voices, experiences and ways of knowing of Black women.