MSc Public Health, MSc Food & Nutrition
PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health
Research fellow in Social Epidemiology
Docent in Global Health
I am currently a tenured Associate Professor (Docent) in Global Health at the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health. My research focuses on investigating social and contextual inequalities, with a particular emphasis on children's health. I take a holistic and relational approach, emphasizing that every child should not only survive and have a good start but also thrive, considering physical, social, and geographical determinants.
This includes comprehensive epidemiological assessment of under-five children mental health in Sweden as well as developing, implementing, and evaluating an innovative integrated community-based Stepped Care Model for delivering child mental health services using digital technologies in Low- to Middle-Income Countries (LIMCs), specifically in Cambodia, India, and Indonesia. Another aspect of my research investigates the evolution of body mass index (BMI) in Sweden from a precision public health perspective. By addressing the limitations of traditional mean-centric risk factor epidemiology, my research incorporates variance and individual heterogeneity into average assessments to provide a deeper insight into the varying social and contextual patterning of BMI.
Links:
1. Exploring the evolution of obesity in Sweden from the Precision Public Health perspective.
2. Strengthening mental health services for children in Cambodia.
Additionally, I am actively involved in several collaborative global health research projects. These projects primarily address emerging global health challenges such as malnutrition, food insecurity, mental health, well-being, climate change, and social network interventions in LMICs. The countries involved include Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Nepal in Asia, as well as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Somalia, and South Africa in Africa.
In 2025, I am privileged to serve as a Scientific Review Panel Member for FORTE (the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare). In this capacity, I will participate in evaluating FORTE’s Annual Call for Project Grants, a critical role where the panel will evaluate and influence the trajectory of cutting-edge public health research proposals in Sweden.
I’m facilitating the research profile seminars on ‘Emerging Global Health Challenges’ at the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.
At the heart of my teaching efforts lies an important objective in every course. This objective or purpose is based on the informed choices that is actively communicated with students (Glassick 1997; Trigwell 2001). It is to create and promote an environment wherein students can enthusiastically interact and critically examine the complex global health challenges of our time. Central to this educational approach is a strong emphasis on collaborative group work, cultural competence, and global perspectives – as will be exemplified below – which encourages individual students to actively participate in different group works and in the co-creation of assignments and the generation of knowledge (Brodin E 2020; Henriksson AS 2016).
This is also in line with our institutional pedagogical vision which guides planning and implementation of our teaching activates that are based on: (i) active learning through a student perspective; (ii) collaborative learning; and (iii) reflective approach to learning.
I am course coordinator for:
1. The Epidemiology course (10 ECTS), given to Master students in Umeå International School of Public Health.
2. An introduction to multilevel analysis: An epidemiological approach (online), 3 ECTS, given to doctoral students.
3. I’m also involved in a “Training-of-Trainers (ToT) Course in Health Research Methodology” for young academics in Somalia as part of the Somali-Swedish Research Collaboration for Health with support from the Public Health Agency of Sweden (FHM) and the Swedish Research Council (VR).
Interdisciplinary approach is a ‘profitable arbitrage opportunity’, said Masoud Vaezghasemi in PMAC.
Masoud Vaezghasemi is one of eleven researchers in the country in career development programs in global health