Lt. Commander Rashid Njai PhD, MPH

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Health Scientist

Rashid Njai, (PhD, MPH), is a Lieutenant Commander in the US Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps and Health Scientist at the Office of Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health (ONDIEH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hailing from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health, where he completed his training in Health Behavior/Health Education (Phd, MPH) as a W.K. Kellogg Health Policy Fellow; he was also a Bunton-Waller Fellow and Ronald E. McNair Scholar at the Pennsylvania State University (BS, Biology). His current work includes supporting the Senior Advisor for Science of ONDIEH on cross-cutting science activities and opportunities in the area of Noncommunicable diseases (chronic diseases, birth defects and developmental disabilities, injury, and environmental health); his work broadly focuses on the social/behavioral epidemiology of mental and physical health disparities among vulnerable populations, as they relate to the Social Determinants of Health, resiliency and wellness. LCDR Njai is a recent recipient of a Commendation Medal from the USPHS in recognition for his exceptional leadership, subject matter expertise and technical guidance in improving public health surveillance and research on social determinants of health at CDC from 2009 through 2015. Outside his role at CDC, Dr. Njai supports numerous community and youth empowerment activities locally in Atlanta, nationally and globally. He remains a scholar-activist through being adjunct faculty at Morehouse University’s Biology/Public Health Sciences Institutes, a Center for Research on Ethnicity Culture and Health at the University of Michigan Affiliate and a Kellogg Fellowship Leadership Alliance board member.

See More Awardees