Rate My Professor Robert Keefe

Robert H. Keefe is an Associate Professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, a position he has held since 2005 after joining from Syracuse University. He earned a PhD in Social Welfare from the University at Albany, State University of New York in 1996, an MSSA from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in 1985, and a BA in Sociology from Ithaca College in 1983. Prior to his academic career, Keefe gained extensive practice experience as a psychiatric and medical social worker in facilities in Ohio, New Hampshire, and New York from 1985 to 1996, including roles as a case manager and clinical care reviewer. His academic appointments include Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis (1996-1997), Assistant and then tenured Associate Professor at Syracuse University School of Social Work (1997-2005), and current affiliations such as Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University since 2022. At University at Buffalo, he serves as faculty liaison and academic advisor for the MSW/MPH dual-degree program and as a faculty affiliate of the UB Gender Institute.

Keefe's research specializations center on health disparities, health access and outcomes, public health social work, and perinatal mental health, particularly postpartum depression among low-income mothers of color. He co-edited the Handbook for Public Health Social Work (Springer, 2013) and has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and several book chapters. Key publications include "Addressing the Triple Trauma of Factors Leading to Perinatal Health and Mental Health Consequences in Two Upstate New York Communities" (Behavioral Sciences, 2025), "'I gotta carry the burden by myself:' Experiences of peripartum depression among low-income mothers of color" (Advances in Social Work, 2021), "Public health social work as a unifying framework for social work’s Grand Challenges" (Social Work, 2019), and "Community gun violence as a social determinant of elementary school achievement" (Social Work in Public Health, 2018). His contributions have earned major awards, including the Insley/Evans Public Health Social Worker of the Year from the American Public Health Association (2011), Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine (2013), Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice – Social Work (2018), and Outstanding Faculty Teaching Awards from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work (2019, 2010). Keefe is an active member of the Society for Social Work and Research, Council on Social Work Education, and American Public Health Association.