Richard Safeer

Board Director

Dr. Safeer is Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-being at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Dr. Safeer completed his Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at Cornell University before graduating from medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo (magna cum laude). He completed his residency in Family Medicine at Franklin Square Hospital Center, in Baltimore, Maryland. After which, he completed a Faculty Development Fellowship at the Virginia Commonwealth University of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia. He is also certified in Clinical Lipidology. He’s achieved fellowship status in the American Academy of Family Practice, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Prior to arriving at Hopkins, Dr. Safeer practiced family medicine in Northern Virginia. He was then on faculty at the George Washington University, serving as the Residency Director of Family Medicine in his last year at the institution. He was the Medical Director of an Occupational Health Center in Baltimore and Wellness Director for the Mid-Atlantic region of the parent company, just before starting at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore, Maryland as the Medical Director of Preventive Medicine. He has been credited by some for bringing ‘wellness’ into the realm of responsibilities of the managed care industry. He also led CareFirst BCBS to be among the first cohort of health plans to be accredited for Wellness by NCQA.

Amongst his responsibilities at Hopkins, includes leading the employee health and well-being initiative, Healthy at Hopkins. Dr. Safeer also advises the institution on matters related to health plan benefits, occupational health, and the employee assistance program. He has published close to fifty papers in the health and wellbeing space and contributed a chapter to a textbook on population health. He regularly speaks to national audiences on the employee health and wellbeing space; in recent years, how to create healthy workplace cultures. He previously served on the Board of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, a professional organization he helped establish. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Our Love Company, Inc.