Sarah Elizabeth Scales, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Faculty, Water, Climate and Health Program
Faculty, Center for Preparedness and Emergency Response Solutions (CPERS)
Sarah Elizabeth Scales, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, where she is also faculty in emergency preparedness academic programs. Dr. Scales trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and further specialized in disaster epidemiology at the University of Delaware. She is an active collaborator with the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters based in Brussels, Belgium. Her research interests are at the crux of hazards, conflict and health. Her current research focuses on the use of epidemiologic methods to characterize resource and data ecosystems and to assess the human-health impacts of extreme events. Dr. Scales hopes that her work provides tangible applications for field practitioners and contributes to evidence-informed policy and practice.
- 2023, PhD, University of Delaware
- 2020, MPH, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- 2018, BS, Millsaps College
- Emergency Preparedness - Prevention (EPI 810 / CPH 550)
- Outbreak Investigations (EPI 826 / CPH 630)
- Kintziger KW, Scales SE. Escaping Disaster: Understanding the Drivers and Disparities in Disaster Displacement in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2025 Jan;115(1):52-54. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11628706.
- Scales SE, Camphausen LC, Horney JA, Kintziger KW. Violent deaths following disasters: A retrospective analysis. PLoS One. 2025;20(12):e0337968. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12677568.
- Scales SE, Park JW, Nixon R, Guha-Sapir D, Horney JA. Disease burden among refugees in camps on mainland Greece, 2016-2017: a retrospective cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2023 Sep 4;23(1):1715. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10476303.
- Ogbu TJ, Scales SE, de Almeida MM, van Loenhout JAF, Speybroeck N, Guha-Sapir D. Predictors of exceeding emergency under-five mortality thresholds using small-scale survey data from humanitarian settings (1999 - 2020): considerations for measles vaccination, malnutrition, and displacement status. Arch Public Health. 2022 Jun 28;80(1):160. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9238088.
- Sapir DG, Ogbu JT, Scales SE, Moitinho de Almeida M, Donneau AF, Diep A, Bernstein R, al-Masnai A, Rodriguez-Llanes JM, Burnham G. Civil war and death in Yemen: Analysis of SMART survey and ACLED data, 2012 – 2019. PLoS Global Health. 2022 Aug 8; 2(8): e0000581. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000581. PMID: 36962390; PMCID: PMC10022117.
- Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chapter of Mississippi