I'm Helen. I'm an anthropologist.

Work / Work: Helen Schaffer

I work to improve the capacity  of organizations to respond to the needs of the people they serve. Because of my background in social science, I know how knowledge is produced and conveyed by academics. From my public health training and subsequent work experience, I understand how evidence and data are interpreted and used by decision-makers.  Having fluency in these two realms allows me to be a conduit for knowledge sharing between specialists and practitioners.

Since 2021, I have been working to improve the use of evidence-based decision making in local government: I currently work in the research arm of a grants office in a large municipal government (Pima County, Arizona).

Academic work: under my family name, Helen Wasielewski

My academic work focuses on cultural adaptation. I'm interested in the norms that regulate the distribution of needed resources between members of a social group (e.g., risk-pooling systems).  To understand how these cultural systems are constituted, I look at how they respond to socioeconomic change.

My recent efforts are focused on understanding social support in central Appalachian communities (eastern Kentucky).  See Sharing in Kentucky for more.

Background: I earned my Ph.D. at Rutgers University, then completed a 3-year postdoc psychology at Arizona State University. In 2020, I finished a Master of Public Health at the University of Arizona. My MPH program provided me with additional tools and practical experience: I specialized in health behavior and health promotion, with coursework in advocacy, policy analysis, community-based evaluation, statistics, epidemiology, and program planning.