September 18, 2025 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
“The priorities of the school and energy of everyone was overwhelmingly palpable,” Ahmer Afroz says of when he interviewed for the clinical assistant professor position he began this fall. “What ultimately made me decide to join the Arnold School was how focused everyone was on the quality of teaching, preparing students for the field, and the emphasis on innovative and adaptive teaching.”
Afroz’s area of expertise is looking at HIV/STIs as well as LGBTQ+ health in various public health settings. He’s experienced in using systems-level change to achieve health equity and passionate about preparing students to make population-level change in their future careers as public health professionals and researchers.
The Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior’s (HPEB) newest member was first introduced to HIV/STI and LGBTQ+ health when he was a public health major at Westminster University in Salt Lake City. Afroz interned and volunteered with a local nonprofit organization, where he had opportunities to provide sexual health counseling and STI testing services. They even passed out flyers with education and prevention information at nightclubs.
“Very quickly. I saw how intense the health disparities and barriers to accessing testing, treatment, and care were,” Afroz says.
Following his 2012 graduation, Afroz enrolled in a Master of Public Health program at Boston University before gaining experience in the field. He spent the next several years overseeing HIV/AIDS projects through the Fenway Institute of Fenway Health, New England’s largest service provider to people at risk for or living with these conditions.
Afroz then returned to Utah, where he served as the Department of Health and Human Services’ HIV Health Program Coordinator for the state. He spent the next five years leading UAF Legacy Health (formerly Utah AIDS Foundation) as chief executive officer while also teaching public health courses at his alma mater and earning a Doctor of Public Health in Health, Equity, and Social Justice at Johns Hopkins University. Afroz wrapped up his time at Westminster University with a year as the senior director for the Gore Giovale Center for Innovative Leadership before accepting his new position at the Arnold School.
“Dr. Afroz has extensive real-world public health experience and exceptional academic training,” says HPEB interim chair Brie Turner-McGrievy. “His dedication to preparing students to become leaders in advancing health equity makes him an invaluable addition to the teaching mission of our department.”
“My passion as an educator is bridging the gap between public health theory and practice,” Afroz says. “So, I am most excited about weaving that throughout my courses with the assistance of all the programming and support the Arnold School provides.”