Professional Mission Statement
Transforming complex data into actionable insights for public and biomedical health, while training the next generation of biostatisticians and data scientists to lead with rigor and interdisciplinary fluency
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Email: ssafo@umn.edu Phone: 612-625-9142 ORCID GitHub Multiview Dashboard CV
Welcome!
I am an Associate Professor in the Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Graduate Faculty of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and Graduate Faculty of Data Science in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. I am interested in developing robust, explainable, and usable statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) methods (e.g. classification, discriminant analysis, clustering, dimension reduction, deep learning) and algorithms for high dimensional and functional data to advance clinical translational research and precision medicine. Some other current interests include social determinants of health and health disparities.
My methods research is currently supported by multiple PI grants including: Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA, R35 from NIGMS) for early stage investigators, Administrative Supplements from NIA and the Office of Data Science and Strategy, and a UMN internal grant.
Education
Ph.D., Statistics, The University of Georgia, 2014
MSc., Applied Mathematics, The University of Akron, 2009
BA., Mathematics and Economics, University of Ghana, 2006
Research Interests
Statistical Methods
Multimodal data integration
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Statistical Machine Learning (Discriminant Analysis, Classification, Clustering)
Causal Mediation Analysis
High-dimensional Data Analysis
Functional Data Analysis
Multivariate Statistical Analysis
Applied
Chronic diseases (CVD, COPD, Diabetes)
Infectious diseases (HIV, COVID-19)
Genetic Epidemiology
Metabolomics
Honors, Awards, Membership
American Statistical Association (ASA) Fellow, 2026
University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professor, 2023-2025
Standing Member, NIH Analytics and Statistics for Population Research Panel A – ASPA, 2022-2026
NIH ESI Outstanding Award, 2021-2026
Elected Member, International Statistical Institute (ISI), 2022
University of Minnesota CTSI KL2 Scholar, 2018-2021
Emory University BIRCWH Scholar, 2016-2017
PRIDE Cardiovascular Genetics Epidemiology Scholar, Washington University, St Louis, 2016-2018
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