Shawn Bediako, PhD

Shawn M. Bediako, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he contributes to both the behavioral medicine and the community and applied social psychology programs. Bediako’s general research interests are concerned with the sociocultural aspects of the adult experience of sickle cell disease.

Currently, he examines: (a) social psychological processes that influence public attitudes toward individuals with sickle cell; and (b) the broader impact of macro-level factors such as employment, unemployment, and underemployment on persons coping with sickle cell, their families and their communities. As one of the few social and community health psychologists conducting research exclusively on sickle cell disease, he is producing a unique body of work that utilizes experimental, survey and qualitative research methods to enhance our understanding of the complexities of adult adjustment to the condition.

Bediako received a master’s degree in community psychology from Florida A&M University and earned a doctorate in social/health psychology from Stony Brook University. He then completed a Carolina Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Watch this video where Bediako discusses the NCAA regulation requiring that all Division I athletes be screened for the sickle cell trait: