Zobayer (Zubi) Ahmmad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Vermont. He earned a doctorate and master’s degree in sociology (population health) from the University of Utah. Dr. Ahmmad also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Division of Research.

Dr. Ahmmad primarily investigates behavioral health outcomes including depressive symptoms, substance use, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) among youth and adults identifying as Asian and Latinx Americans. His dissertation project explored the effects of acculturation, sense of school belonging, and gender identity on mental, behavioral, and metabolic health outcomes among Asian Americans from the Add Health. His independent and collaborative works have yielded 15 publications in sociological and epidemiological journals including Socius, JEMS, and Annals of Epidemiology. The key findings from these publications demonstrate 1) health disadvantages in several U.S. Asian ethnic groups, 2) gendered acculturation in terms of smoking among Asian American youth transitioning into adulthood, and 3) the roles of SES and discrimination on the health disparities across selected Asian American ethnic groups. He is interested in leveraging next-generation data and methods to continue investigating health disparities.

Dr. Ahmmad’s pedagogical strategy, mainly shaped by his unique life experiences and insightful research activities, is student-centric and remains supportive of curious, imaginative, and critical approaches to learning. Some of the courses he has been teaching include introduction to sociology, basic methods of demography, Asian American family and community, and social epidemiology.