Dr. Safo is a leader in advocacy for gender and racial equity in medicine. In 2019, she joined seven of her colleagues in filing a federal lawsuit against Mount Sinai Health System for gender, age and race discrimination. Through her efforts, she has become a national voice on how to address racism and sexism in medicine, and this collective activism led to the NYC Council passing legislation in 2021 to create a Gender and Racial Equity Advisory Committee. She has continued these efforts with ongoing advocacy to ensure antiracist policies are enacted on the federal level, through her efforts with the Coalition to Advance Antiracism in Medicine.
Dr. Safo is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she holds dual appointments in Medicine and Medical Education. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Montefiore Medical System where she serves as the current Director for the Social Medicine Curriculum. Her research areas focus on qualitative analyses of challenges to healthcare delivery for vulnerable populations around the world. She has lectured nationally and continues to teach and mentor students and trainees. In addition to consulting on projects around equitable care model design and to a commitment to social justice work, Dr. Safo also provides clinical care to HIV+ and LGBTQ+ patients in New York.
Dr. Safo is published in several peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA Open Network and AIDS and Behavior, and she has written for such popular medical media as STAT News and KevinMD on gender equity and physician wellness. She is fiercely committed to community empowerment through knowledge sharing and has given numerous talks on Covid-19, HIV prevention and wellness, and chronic disease management. She has appeared on various television media, including CNN, MSNBC, YahooFinance, CBS, Newsy, and Cheddar.
