Payam Sheikhattari

Dr. Payam Sheikhattari is a tenured Professor of Public Health in the School of Community Health & Policy at Morgan State University with nearly two decades of experience in community-based participatory research. He is the founder of the Morgan CARES network and former director of the Prevention Sciences Research Center, fostering sustainable collaborations between academia and community organizations to address health disparities in underserved communities.

His educational background includes a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an MD from Uromia University of Medical Sciences in Iran, and an MPH from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This diverse training informs his approach to public health research and practice.

Dr. Sheikhattari's research focuses on advancing health equity through community engagement, with particular emphasis on tobacco cessation programs, health disparities in marginalized populations, and innovative community-academic partnerships. His work consistently centers on community-based participatory research methods that empower communities to be active partners in the research process.

His publication portfolio demonstrates expertise across tobacco control, health disparities, and community engagement, with recent work examining gender differences in quit rates, electronic cigarette use among youth, and intersectional approaches to tobacco advertising exposure. His 2022 book "Practitioner Research for Social Work, Nursing, and the Health Professions" represents a significant contribution to methodological approaches in community health.

• $41 million (over 10 years) NIH U54 award for ASCEND Training Model
• $18 million (over 5 years) NIH U54 award for RCMI@Morgan
• $749k (over 4 years) AHA funding for IMPACT project
• $226k (over 2 years) Morgan State University funding for Community & Stakeholder Engagement Certificate Program

As a dedicated mentor, Dr. Sheikhattari has supervised numerous undergraduate research students through programs like ASCEND and has been instrumental in developing training models to enhance biomedical research opportunities for underrepresented minorities. His leadership extends to establishing physical infrastructure for community engagement through the Morgan CARES initiative, which has become a model for academic-community partnerships in public health research.