Saria Lofton

Lofton is deeply committed to research focused on health promotion in the Black community, locally and internationally. Lofton uses a community-based participatory research approach to identify and leverage community assets while building local capacities. Her work has recently focused on understanding local food environments as essential in addressing chronic disease risk inequities for Black American youth and adults. Lofton has received internal funding to investigate urban agriculture in Black communities through the lens of community gardeners and farmers throughout Chicago. She has also received external funding through the NIH National Institute of Nursing Research to examine community-level factors that influence HIV risk behaviors in Malawi youth. Lofton's current research project, funded by the Center of Health Equity Chicago, builds upon the work she conducted with urban growers in urban agriculture.