Shireen S. Rajaram, PhD

Associate Professor

University of Nebraska Medical Center
College of Public Health

Biography

Shireen S. Rajaram, PhD is the Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Social and Behavioral Health in the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).  She is an Associate faculty of the Eppley Cancer Center and is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program's Population Based Epidemiology research group.  She was a member of the UNMC-UNO (University of Nebraska at Omaha, MPH Graduate Programs Committee. 

She is one of three faculty at UNMC to be nominated by Chancellor Maurer to serve on the  University-wide Diversity Committee.  She is the campus leader on the Cultural Competency initiative, one of five Critical Success Factors in UNMC's Strategic Plan 2009-12.  She led the team that successfully launched the online Cultural Competency Training module at UNMC, the first of its kind in the Nebraska University system.  She is on the UNMC's Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) Committee and serves on the Collaboration Science Patient Oriented Research Council.  She is on the College of Public Health's Leadership Council, Committee on Research and Development, and the Workforce Service Accreditation Committee. 

She serves on the board of the urban Area Health Education Council, and is on the Steering Committee of the Office of Minority Health's Congressional District 2 Satellite Office.  Also she has been invited to statewide Minority Health Council with the Office of Health Disparities and Healthy Equity at Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.  She served on the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Infant Mortality Disparity Work Group.

Dr. Rajaram was a Professor of Sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at UNO from 2005-2008.  She was a member of the Women's Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, and Environmental Studies program at UNO and served on the Board of American Humanics Program.  Dr. Rajaram was the co-founder of UNOs India Studies Interest Group. She served on the Community Advisory Group of the Omaha Lead site, the Lead Safe Omaha Coalition and was a member of the Governor's Task Force on Lead Poisoning. 

Dr. Rajaram received her Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from the University of Kentucky and has a Certificate in Medical Behavioral Sciences from the Department of Medical Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kentucky.  Dr. Rajaram's research interests include health disparities pertaining to breast and cervical cancer, diabetes, STD/AIDS and childhood lead poisoning.  She has published extensively in journals such as Women and Health, Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved, Health Care for Women International, Preventive Medicine, and Sociology of Health and Illness.  She received grants from the Association of Prevention Teaching and Research, Environmental Protection Agency, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Oncology Nursing Forum and the Nebraska Consortium for Service Learning in Higher Education.  She serves as a reviewer for several national/international public health and sociology journals including Social Science and Medicine, Women and Health, and Preventive Medicine.

Her teaching interests include Health Disparities and Women and Health.  Dr. Rajaram has conducted several grant-funded, service learning projects in collaboration with community based organizations such as Lead Safe Omaha Coalition and Nebraska AIDS Project addressing local health issues of childhood lead poisoning and STD/HIV/AIDS. 

Dr. Rajaram is a member of the American Public Health Association and Campus-Community Partnerships for Health.