Eileen O’Keefe

Faculty Associate
Clinical Professor, Department Health Sciences
ebokeefe@bu.edu
617-353-6429

Education

MD, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; MPH, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, Duke University

Expertise

Public health, health inequities, epidemiology, maternal and child health.

Biography

Eileen B. O’Keefe, MD, MPH is a Professor in the Department of Health Sciences. She is a physician and public health professional. Dr. O’Keefe joined the Boston University faculty in 2004 as the inaugural Director of the Health Science Program, in which capacity she served until 2016. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health – the social and environmental conditions in which people live, and the impact of these conditions in the generation of the health inequities within society. Her work has a particular focus on how health inequities are shaped by the distribution of resources, money and power and the critical role played by social policies in reducing or exacerbating these inequities. Her research has included health assessment of urban populations, such as Hartford Connecticut, to assessment of health of women in rural villages of Gujarat, India. Professor O’Keefe is active in national public health policy and serves as a governing councilor with the American Public Health Association and as Associate Editor, Frontiers in Public Health – Epidemiology. Professor O’Keefe teaches courses in Global Health, Epidemiology and Social Determinants of Health.