E EHREpicentra Health Research

About & Portfolio

Benti Geleta Buli (PhD)

A public health professional with over 20 years of international experience in health research, disease prevention and control, nutrition, and health emergency response — now channelled into Epicentra Health Research (EHR).

Profile

Benti Geleta Buli holds a PhD in Public Health Sciences from Mälardalen University, Sweden, where his research examined trends, developmental trajectories, and the underlying determinants of adolescent mental health. Across his career he has led complex research and evaluation initiatives, developed monitoring and evaluation systems, and managed national and subnational health programmes in partnership with governments, NGOs, UN agencies, and academic institutions across Africa and Europe — contributing to several peer-reviewed publications.

His work draws on strong expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research, including longitudinal and causal analysis, with proficiency in STATA, SPSS, and R. Colleagues describe him as professional, friendly, honest, detail-oriented, and dependable — committed to improving the well-being of adolescents through research, policy, and collaborative action. He is fluent in English, Afan Oromo, and Amharic, with intermediate Swedish.

Education

2020 – 2024
PhD, Public Health Sciences — Mälardalen University, Sweden
2007 – 2009
MPH — University of Pretoria, South Africa
1996 – 2000
BSc, Public Health — Dilla University, Ethiopia

Core tools

STATA SPSS R SQL Power BI Kobo ODK MS Office

Research arc

From global public health to adolescent mental health.

Early career · Ethiopia

Global public health & vulnerable populations

Work centred on communicable disease prevention and control in low-income settings, with particular attention to women and young children — including a study on outcomes of moderate acute malnutrition among children in rural Ethiopia.

Transition · Sweden

Adolescent health & lifestyle

After moving to Sweden, research shifted to sustainable healthy lifestyles among adolescents in a high-income context — comparative work that laid the groundwork for the doctoral research that followed.

PhD · Sweden

Mental health trends & trajectories

Doctoral research examined trends in depressive symptoms, anxiety, suicidal behaviour, and psychosomatic symptoms among Swedish adolescents, and the developmental trajectories and social factors — family, peer, school — shaping them.

Looking ahead

Expanding the lens

Current interests extend toward more distal social determinants — policy analysis, economic inequality, intersectionality, and cross-national comparisons of adolescent mental health.

Career path

Two decades, two continents.

2020 – 2024

PhD, Public Health Sciences

Mälardalen University, Sweden

2018 – 2020

Research Assistant & Adjunct Professor, Global Health

Mälardalen University, Sweden

2013 – 2016

Senior Operations Research Advisor & Country Representative

Valid International / Save the Children, Ethiopia

2014 – 2015

Volunteer Field Epidemiologist, Ebola Response

Korussa Prefecture, Guinea

2009 – 2011

Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor

EngenderHealth, Ethiopia

2011

WHO/CDC Surveillance Support

Kabarole, Gulu & Lira, Uganda

Selected work

Portfolio highlights

PhD dissertation · 4 interlinked studies

Adolescent mental health trajectories

Analysed trends, developmental trajectories, and associated factors in mental health problems among adolescents, using regional (Västmanland) and nationally representative Swedish datasets.

Impact evaluation · Ethiopia

ENGINE nutrition & economic opportunity program

Led the Operations Research and Impact Evaluation component for a multi-sectoral nutrition programme — M&E framework design, baseline/midline/endline reporting, and stakeholder dissemination.

Field epidemiology · Guinea, 2014–15

Ebola outbreak response

Oversaw case and contact data collection, ran epidemiological forecasts, and trained a contact-tracing team in Korussa Prefecture; findings published in the Pan African Medical Journal.

Citizen science · Sweden

NESLA study on active commuting & neighbourhood SES

Investigated active commuting and healthy behaviour among adolescents across neighbourhoods of varying socioeconomic status, using citizen-science methods in collaboration with Mälardalen University.

Research fellowship · Mälardalen University

Workplace food environment scoping review

Scoping review examining how sustainable workplace food environments shape employees' eating habits, alongside research on adolescent mobile phone use and alcohol consumption.

WHO/CDC joint programme · Uganda

Vaccine-preventable disease surveillance

Strengthened surveillance systems across Kabarole, Gulu, and Lira regions in support of the Ministry of Health.

Doctoral dissertation

PhD thesis.

  1. Buli, B. G. (2024). Mental health problems among adolescents in Sweden: Analysis of trends, developmental trajectories, and associated factors [Doctoral dissertation, Mälardalen University].

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles.

  1. Buli, B. G., Larm, P., Nilsson, K., Åslund, C., & Giannotta, F. (2026). The impact of family and peer relationships on developmental trajectories of depressive and anxiety symptoms among young people: A person-oriented approach. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.
  2. Wahlström, E., Stier, J., & Buli, B. G. (2025). What is health? A deconstruction of the World Health Organization 1948 definition. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine.
  3. Buli, B. G., Lehtinen-Jacks, S., Larm, P., Nilsson, K. W., Hellström-Olsson, C., & Giannotta, F. (2024). Trends in psychosomatic symptoms among adolescents and the role of lifestyle factors. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 878.
  4. Buli, B. G., Larm, P., Nilsson, K. W., Hellström-Olsson, C., & Giannotta, F. (2024). Trends in mental health problems among Swedish adolescents: Do school-related factors play a role? PLOS ONE, 19(3), e0300294.
  5. Buli, B. G., Larm, P., Nilsson, K. W., Hellström-Olsson, C., Lehtinen-Jacks, S., & Giannotta, F. (2023). Trends in adolescent mental health problems and the role of lifestyle factors. European Journal of Public Health, 33(Supplement_2), ckad160.1583.
  6. Buli, B. G., Tillander, A., Fell, T., & Bälter, K. (2022). Active commuting and healthy behavior among adolescents in neighborhoods with varying socioeconomic status: The NESLA study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7).
  7. Fell, T., Rydenstam, T., Buli, B. G., King, A. C., & Bälter, K. (2021). Citizen science in Sweden's stigmatized neighborhoods. Sustainability, 13(18), 10205.
  8. Bälter, K., Rydenstam, T., Fell, T., King, A. C., & Buli, B. G. (2020). Data from an Our Voice citizen science initiative in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status in Sweden: A proof of concept for collecting complex data. Data in Brief, 33, 106394.
  9. Rydenstam, T., Fell, T., Buli, B. G., King, A. C., & Bälter, K. (2020). Using citizen science to understand the prerequisites for physical activity among adolescents in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods — the NESLA study. Health & Place, 65, 102387.
  10. James, P., Sadler, K., Wondafrash, M., Argaw, A., Luo, H., Geleta, B., Kedir, K., Getnet, Y., Belachew, T., & Bahwere, P. (2016). Children with moderate acute malnutrition with no access to supplementary feeding programmes experience high rates of deterioration and no improvement: Results from a prospective cohort study in rural Ethiopia. PLOS ONE, 11(4), e0153530.
  11. Buli, B. G., Mayigane, L. N., Oketta, J. F., Soumouk, A., Sandouno, T. E., Camara, B., Toure, M. S., & Conde, A. (2015). Misconceptions about Ebola seriously affect the prevention efforts: KAP related to Ebola prevention and treatment in Kouroussa Prefecture, Guinea. Pan African Medical Journal, 22(Suppl 1), 11.

Evaluation consultancy work

Selected commissioned evaluations.

  1. Abuye, C., Buli, B. G., & Verma, S. (2017). Baseline assessment of the EU-SHARE project in Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR regions, Ethiopia — commissioned by UNICEF Ethiopia.
  2. Mekonnen, A., Buli, B. G., Gurmu, E., & Abbe, K. (2016). Qualitative study for a mid-term evaluation of the MULU/MARPS HIV Prevention Project — Population Services International Ethiopia.
  3. Aboma, G., Buli, B. G., & Legesse, Y. (2015). Review of policies and practices in selected ministries that are members of the Ethiopian National Nutrition Coordinating Body — commissioned by Save the Children Ethiopia on behalf of the Ethiopian Civil-Society Coalition on Scaling Up Nutrition.
  4. Ahrne, M., Buli, B. G., & Asbe, H. (2011). Endline evaluation of the Jimma HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Project (JAPCS), Ethiopia — commissioned by the Church of Sweden.
  5. Ingdal, N., & Buli, B. G. (2010). Appraisal of the Phase II (2011–15) proposal for "Prevention and Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation and Other Harmful Traditional Practices" by Norwegian Church Aid and Save the Children — commissioned by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Addis Ababa.
  6. Buli, B. G., & Getaneh, M. (2010). Baseline assessment for the Strategic Plan (2009–2013), Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia.

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