Faculty and Staff Profile

Sarah Griffin

Educational Background

PhD Public Health
University of South Carolina 2001

MPH Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior
University of South Carolina 1993

BS Biology
Winthrop University 1988

Courses Taught

Rural Health and Community Planning (HLTH8520)
Qualitative and Mixed Methods (HLTH 8220)
Foundations of Evaluation in Health (HLTH 8410)
Community Health Promotion (HLTH 4800)
Health Promotion Program Planning (HLTH 3400)
Applied Health Behavior (HLTH 4500)
Determinants of Health Behavior (HLTH 2400)
Introduction to Public Health (HLTH 2020)

Profile

Dr. Griffin has over thirty years of experience in public health and in April of 2025 was named a Centennial Professor for Clemson University. Dr. Griffin has extensive experience implementing and evaluating complex health interventions focused on chronic disease prevention and management for adults and children in a wide variety of settings. Dr. Griffin is an expert in evaluation design, mixed methods research, and qualitative research and is an active member of the American Academy of Health Behavior and the American Public Health Association.

Research Interests

Dr. Griffin's research is focused on improving health by researching the efficacy and effectiveness of community engaged research interventions to improve health. Most of this work is focused on chronic disease prevention and management, with a specific focus on preventing obesity. Dr. Griffin is the Principal Investigator for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded rural health extension obesity prevention initiative in ten SC counties, the Healthy Options Program. She is a Co-Investigator on an American Heart Association project to improve health through community engaged research in collaboration with LiveWell Greenville and Furman University. She was the Principal Investigator for evaluating the Bradshaw Institute School Health program and remains a faculty fellow with the Bradshaw institute at Prisma Health. Dr. Griffin has served as the Principal Investigator of a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded Rural Health initiative and Co-Investigator on four different National Institutes of Health funded research projects adding health equity in South Carolina (SC). Two of these projects focused on obesity prevention, one was to examine medical and nursing students' readiness to treat Latino patients in cancer care settings and one focused to reducing HIV/AIDS and HPV in racial and ethnic minority communities. She has published numerous national/international peer-reviewed articles related to improving health and serves on the editorial review committee for several leading national health journals.

Research Publications

Koob, C., Meggett, K., Parisi, M., Griffin, SF (2025). Contextualizing rural/non-rural differences in pediatric primary care patterns in South Carolina: A Mixed-Methods Study. Family and Community Health 48 (4) 267-277. DOI: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000438

Koob C., Mack, E., Griffin, SF (2025) The moderating effect of waiver enrollment and home nursing care on hospitalization risk. Hospital Pediatrics 15 (8) 667-675 https://doi.org/10.1542/hpeds.2024-008215

Howard, K., Griffin, SF, Rolke, LJ, Venables, J., Stuenkel, M., Sease, K. (2025) Exploration of individual and context features of a bicycle skills program for riding, injury prevention knowledge, and self-efficacy among children. Journal of Transport and Health. 43 102050 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2025.102050

Koob, C., Babatunde, A., Baxter, SLK., Parisi, M., Griffin SF. (2025) Examining Primary Care Utilization and Distance Traveled for Care Among Medicaid-Insured Children in South Carolina. Journal of Community Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-025-01492-4

Howard, K., Massimo, LM., Witrick, B., Zhang, L., Griffin, SF., Ross, LA., Rennert, L. (2025) Investigation of risk of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and survival based on variation to life experiences used to operationalize cognitive reserve. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 105 (1) 147-158. https://doi.org/10.1177/13872877251326818

Wampler WR., Gormley, MA., Griffin, SF., Correa Ibarra Jl., Bailes, P., Schwerin, DL., Queen, K., Jones., Floyd, SB., Beltran, G., Litwin, AH., Moschella, P., (2025) EMC clinician perceptions on prehospital buprenorphine administration programs. Prehospital Emergency Care. 1-0. https://doi.org/10.1080/10903127.2025.2462774

Koob, C., Griffin, SF, Stuenkel, M., Cartmell, K., Sease, K. (2025) Supporting the advancement of a national agenda for pediatric healthcare reform: A multi-year evaluation of a leadership education in neurodevelopment and related disabilities program. Maternal and Child Health Journal https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-025-04040-7

Emerson, C., Koob, C, Sease K., Griffin SF, (2025) Employing a phased, interdisciplinary approach across healthcare and school settings: mHealth adaptations for youth with autism spectrum disorder at-risk of experiencing obesity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06666-y

Koob, C., Griffin, SF, Cartmell, K., Rennert, L., Sease, KK (2025) Examining outpatient occupational therapy utilization among children and youth with special health care needs in South Carolina: A structural equation model of individual- and community-level factors, Disability and Health Journal, Volume 18, Issue 1, epub 2024, 101687, ISSN 1936-6574, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101687.

Stuenkel M, Koob C, Griffin SF, Sease KK. (2024) Evaluation of a pediatric navigation program within primary care: a quantitative analysis guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. BMC Health Service Research. (1):1545. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11844-w. PMID: 39633413; PMCID: PMC11619263.

Koob, C., Griffin, S.F., Stuenkel, M., Cartmell, K, Rennert, L., Sease KK. (2024) Bridging the gaps in pediatric complex healthcare: the case for home nursing care among children with medical complexity. BMC Health Service Research 24, 814. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11235-1

Okon M, Williams J, Truong K, Yu Q, Griffin S, Zhang L. (2024) Characteristics of lung cancer screening eligible population in the US and prediction of the eligibility with simplified criteria. Translational Cancer Research. 2024 May 31;13(5):2155-2163. doi: 10.21037/tcr-23-1942. Epub 2024 May 20. PMID: 38881910; PMCID: PMC11170509.

Koob C., Stuenkel M., Gagnon RJ, Griffin SF, Sease K (2024) Examining patient and community level factors associated with pediatric mental healthcare access within a patient navigation program. Community Mental Health Journal https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-024-01258-7
Koob C, Stuenkel M., Gagnon, RJ, Griffin SF, Sease K. (2023) Identifying risk factors associated with repeated referrals within a pediatric navigation program. Journal of Community Health. 48(6). 1044-1051 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-023-01274-w

Stuenkel M, Koob C., Richardson E, Griffin SF, Sease K. (2023) School-Based mental health services utilization through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Journal of School Health https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13384

Hossfeld C, Rennert L, Baxter SLK, Griffin SF, Paris M. (2023) The association between food security status and home food environment among a sample of rural South Carolina residents. Nutrients 15(18) https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15183918

Howard KA, Massimo L., Griffin SF, Gagnon RJ, Zhang, L., Rennert L (2023) Systematic examination of methodological inconsistency in operationalizing cognitive reserve and its impact on identifying predictors of late-life cognition. BMC Geriatrics 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04263-9

Howard, K.A.; Griffin, S.F.; Stuenkel, M.; Sease, K.K. (2023) Community Features’ Varying Insight into Emergency Department Use for Different Childhood Injuries. Journal of Safety Research 86 pp209-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.05.011

Baxter, S.L.K., Corbie, G, Griffin, S.F. (2023) Contextualizing physical activity in rural adults: Do relationships between income inequality, neighborhood environments, and physical activity exist? Health Services Research. 1-10

Heavner S, Stuenkel M, Russ Sellers R, McCallus R, Dean K, Wilson C, Shuffler M, Britt TW, Stark Taylor S, Benedum M, Munk N, Mayo R, Cartmell KB, Griffin S, Kennedy AB. (2023) “’I don’t want to go to work’: a mixed-methods analysis of health-care worker experiences from the front- and side-lines of COVID-19.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Special Issue "One Year into the COVID-19 Crisis: Mental Health, Burnout, Trauma and Resilience. " 20(11) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115953

Baxter, S. L., Koob, C., Hossfeld, C. M., Mobley, C., Hossfeld, L. H., & Griffin, S. F. (2023). Food insecurity, the food environment, and COVID-19 in rural South Carolina. Family & Community Health. 46(2), 128-135

Koob, C., Luo, Y., Mobley, C., Baxter, S., Griffin, S. F., Hossfeld, C., & Hossfeld, L. (2023). Food insecurity and stress among rural residents in South Carolina: The moderating influences of household characteristics, neighborhood social environment and food environment. Journal of Community Health. 1-14.

Baxter, S. L. K., Jackson, E., Onufrak, S., Parisi, M. A., & Griffin, S. F. (2022). Differences in Rural Built Environment Perceptions Across Demographic and Social Environment Characteristics. Health Promotion Practice, 23(1_suppl), 44S–54S. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399221112868

Luo, Y., Mobley, C., Hossfeld, L., Koob, C., Hossfeld, C., Baxter, S. L. K., & Griffin, S. F. (2022). The Association between Food Insecurity and Making Hunger-Coping Trade-Offs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Sources of Food and Easiness in Food Access. Nutrients, 14(21), 4616. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14214616

Frieson A, Hurley, RA, Kimmel, RM, Griffin, S., Bridges, Wl., Roth, G., Kessler, SJ. (2022) The role of package design typicality on a hand sanitizer purchase. Packaging Technology and Science. 35 (10): 737-751. https://doi.org/10.1002/pts.2676

Rolke, L., Griffin, SF, Hamilton, J., Mayo R., Williams, J., (2022) Parent/Guardian Experiences with the Healthcare System and Community Supports for Pediatric Asthma Management. Journal of Patient Experience. 9: 1-8 https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735221089458

Howard, K., Griffin SF., Rolke, L., Sease K (2021) Factors Related to Youth Self-Efficacy for Injury Prevention Bicycle Skills. Journal of Safety Research. 79: 94-99.

Pyle, A, Garst B, Mobely, C, Griffin SF, Eichinger M, Hossfeld L. (2021) Disease and Disaster: Navigating food insecurity in a community affected by tornados during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Agriculture, Food System, and Community. 10(3). 1-18.

Garst, B. A., Clanton, T., White, D., Dickes, L., Griffin, S., & Gagnon, R. (2021). Benchmarking South Carolina recreation providers' role in addressing summertime food insecurity. Recreation, Parks, & Tourism in Public Health. 5-38 doi: 10.2979/rptph.5.1.02

Sease, K.K, Rolke, L.J, Forrester, J.E, Griffin, S.F. (2021) Feedback Following a Family-Focused Pediatric Weight Management Intervention: Experiences from the New Impact Program. Journal of Patient Experience. 9

Woo. M.J., Prabodh Mishra, P., Lin, J., Kar, S., Deas,N., Linduff, C., Niu, S., Yang, U., McClendon, J., Hudson Smith, D., Shelton, SL, Gainey, CE., Gerard, WC., Smith, MC, Griffin, S.F., Gimbel, R., Wang, K.C. (2021). Complete and Resilient Documentation of Operational Medical Environments Leveraging Mobile Hands-free Technology in a Systems Approach: Experimental Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research (9) 10: e32301

Vanderpool, L.E., Trilik, J.L., Griffin, S.F., Condrasky, M.D. (2021) Culinary Medicine: An Evaluation to Assess the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and confidence of first-year medical students in a culinary medicine teaching kitchen. Topics in Clinical Nutrition 35(4) pp 351-360.

Gimbel, R. Rennert, L., Crawford, P., Little, J., Truong, K., Williams, J.E., Griffin, S.F., Shi. L., Chen L, Zhang, L., Moss, J.B., Marshall. R.C., Edwards, K.W., Crawford, K.J., Hing, M.., Schmelz, A., Lumsden, B., Ashby, M., Haas, E., Palazzo, K. (2020) Enhancing patient activation and self-management activities in patients with type 2 diabetes using the US Department of Defense mobile health care environment: Feasibility study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(5).

Francis, E., Johnstone, M.B., Covington-Kolb, S., Witrick, B., Griffin, S., Sun, X., Crockett, A., Chen, L. (2019) Group Prenatal Care Attendance and Women’s Characteristics Associated with Low Attendance: Results from Centering and Racial Disparities (CRADLE Study) Maternal and Child Health 23(10) pp 1371-1381

Schmalz, D.L., Griffin, S.F., Blomquist, K.K., Reeves, C.B., Sease, K.K. (2019). New Impact: The value of recreation health partnerships in treating childhood obesity. Recreation, Parks, and Tourism in Public Health, 3, 47-66. doi: 10.2979/rptph.3.1.05

Helsel B, Liang J, Williams JE, Griffin SF, Spitler H. (2019) Family and friend influence on fruit and vegetable intake in elementary aged children. Journal of Community Health 44(5) 932-940. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-019-00640-x

Harris B, Schmalz D, Larson, L., Fernandez M. Griffin SF. (2019) Contested spaces: Intimate segregation and environmental gentrification on Chicago’s 606 trail. City & Community
https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12422

Rice J, Hurley RA, Griffin SF, Dawson P, Whiteside W. (2018) Influence of visual attention on the likelihood of choice through regression analysis. Journal of Applied Packaging Sciences. 10(5) pp 12-24.

Torrence C., Griffin SF, Rolke LJ, Kenison K, Marvin, A. (2018) Faithful Families Cooking and Eating Smart and Moving to Health: Evaluation of a Community Driven Intervention. International Journal of Environment and Public Health 15(9), 1991; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091991

Blomquist KK, Griffin SF, Hayes EL, Schmalz D, Sease K, Reeves CB. (2018) Behavioral and psychological predictors of BMI reduction in children seeking treatment at a hospital clinic’s family-based pediatric weight management program. Journal of Childhood Obesity 3(2):10.

Condrasky, M, Weeks A., Darby D., Sharpe J, Griffin SF. Research Study on an Applied Interdisciplinary Product Development Course for College Sophomores. (2018) Journal of Food Science Education. 17(2), 66-71.

Williams JE, Helsel B, Griffin SF, Liang J. (2017) Associations between parental BMI and the family nutrition and physical activity environment in a community sample. Journal of Community Health 42(6): 1233-1239.

Shi, L, Feng C, Griffin, SF, Williams J, Crandall L, Truong K. (2017) Does Awareness of the Affordable Care Act reduce adverse selection? A study of the Long-Term Uninsured in South Carolina. Inquiry 54: 1-7.

Gimbel R, Shi L, Williams JE, Dye CJ, Chen L, Crawford P, Shry EA, Griffin SF, Jones KO, Sherrill WW, Truong K, Little JR, Edwards KW, Hing M, Moss JB. (2017). Enhancing mHealth technology in the patient centered medical home environment to activate patients with Type 2 diabetes: A multisite feasibility study protocol. JMIR Research Protocols ;6(3):e38. DOI: 10.2196/resprot.6993.

Mayo R, Griffin SF, Pribonic AP (2016) The Reality of the Affordable Care Act Implementation among the Chronically Uninsured: a Qualitative Study Journal of Diversity and Equality in HealthCare 13 (3): 251-256

Griffin SF, Mayo RM, Pribonics AP. (2015) They treat you different, it is a different kind of care” Stigmatization and discrimination perceptions among the uninsured. International Journal Health Sciences 3(4), pp. 33-42

Wilson DK, Van Horn L, Kugler K, Siceloff RS, Alia KA, St. George SM, Lawman HG, Trumpeter N, Coulon S, Griffin SF, Wandersman A, Egan B, Colabianchi N, Forthorfer M, Gadson B. (2014) The Results of the "Positive Action for Today's Health" (PATH) Trial for Increasing Walking and Physical Activity in Underserved African American, Annals of Behavioral Medicine http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12160-014-9664-1#

Schmalz D., Hallo JC, Griffin SF, Kusch M, Arce M. (2013) Development of a Healthy Parks Healthy People strategic action plan for Hot Springs National Park. Park Science 30 (2) pp. 37-43.

Katz J, Wandersman A, Goodman R Griffin SF, Wilson DK, Shilliac M. (2013) Updating the FORECAST formative evaluation approach and some implications for ameliorating theory failure, implementation failure, and evaluation failure. Evaluation and Program Planning. 39. Pp 42-50.

Hernandez-GarbonGarbonzo Y, Griffin SF, Cason K, Loberger G., Williams J, ., Baker S., Coffee A., Linton B, Hall T, Hayden V, (2013) A content analysis of nutrition education curricula used with low-income audiences: Implications for questionnaire development. Health Promotion Practice. 4(4) pp 534-542

Wilson DK, St George S, Trumpeter N, Coulon S, Griffin S. Wandersman A, Forthofor L, Gadson B, Brown P. (2013) Qualitative developmental research among lowing income African American adults to inform social marketing campaign for walking. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 10:33. http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/10/1/33

Mayo R, Sherrill W, Griffin SF, Parker VG, (2012) Content, Placement, and Acquisition of Cancer Education for Latino Patient Care: A Qualitative Study of Medical and Nursing Students. Journal of Cancer Education 27 (4) pp 618-624

Coulon SM, Wilson DK, Griffin S, St. George S, Kugler K, Trumpeter N, Wandersman A, Forthofer M, Robinson S, Gadson B. (2012) Formative Process Evaluation for Implementing a Social Marketing Intervention to Increase Walking in African Americans in the PATH Trial. American Journal of Public Health. 102(12) pp2315-2321

Condrasky M, Williams J, Catalalano PM, Griffin SF. (2011) Development of psychosocial scales for evaluating the impact of a culinary nutrition education program on cooking and healthy eating. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 43(6) pp511-516.

Williams, J., Kabukuru A., Mayo R., Griffin SF, (2011) Commentary: A social-ecological perspective on obesity among latinos. Ethnicity and Disease. 21 pp 467 – 472.

Wilson DK, Van Horn, L, Kitzaman-Ulreigh H, Saunders R, Pate R, Lawman HG, Hutto B, Griffin SF, Zarratte N, Addy C, Mansard L, Mixon G, Brown PV (2011) Results of the Active by Choice Today (ACT) Randomized trial for increasing physical activity in low-income and minority adolescents. Health Psychology 30(4) pp 463-471.

Griffin SF, Williams JE, Hickman P, Kirchner A, Spitler H. (2011) A university, community coalition and town partnership to promote walking. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 17(4) pp 293-295.

Estabrooks PA, Smith-Ray R, Dzewaltowski DA, Dowdy D, Lattimore D, Rheaume C, Ory MG, Bazzarre T, Griffin SF, Wilcox S. (2011) Sustainability of evidence-based community-based physical activity programs for older adults: lessons from Active for Life. Translational Behavioral Medicine

Honors and Awards

Centennial Professor - Clemson University, April 2025
Excellence in Student Engagement - College of Behavior, Social, and Health Science, Clemson University – May 2021
Faculty Scholar – Clemson University School of Health Research – reappointment 2021

Faculty Fellowship “Sponsored research appointment for 8 months with Greenville Health Systems, Greenville, SC- 2016
Provost Leadership Fellow - 2015
Excellence in Service and Outreach College of Health, Education and Human Development, Clemson University - May 2013