Amelia Self

Amelia Self is a master’s level social worker and public health advocate with more than 20 years of experience implementing programs and expanding service access and delivery to populations that have been historically underserved.

Amelia currently serves as director of the Population Health Division with the Salt Lake County Health Department. In this role, Amelia leads a multidisciplinary team of health strategists, guiding initiatives that build healthy and resilient communities. Her work focuses on emergency preparedness, health literacy, data analytics, and the prevention and mitigation of communicable diseases. As a key member of the senior leadership team, Amelia shapes the strategic direction of health services in Salt Lake County, ensuring that initiatives align with community needs and health equity goals.

Amelia previously spent nine years at the Utah Department of Health, where she led state-wide prevention, treatment, and surveillance priorities and initiatives for programming focused on refugee health, HIV, STD, TB, viral hepatitis, and harm reduction. In this position, Amelia expanded health services for newly arrived refugees; increased funding available to support HIV prevention and treatment services, including PrEP; and directed efforts to establish syringe service programming. She also served as the state AIDS director (2014-2020) and state refugee health coordinator (2012-2020). Amelia represented Utah as a voting member of the Association of Refugee Health Coordinators and served as a member of the executive board from 2015-2017. She also was appointed to the Governor’s Refugee Advisory Board and served from 2016-2020.

Prior to her government work, Amelia spent eight years at the International Rescue Committee, where she led the development and implementation of health and wellness programming for newly arriving refugees and existing refugee communities. Amelia also provided sexual and reproductive health services, specifically HIV testing and pre- and post-testing counseling to youth living in Gaborone, Botswana, along with working with Latino refugees and asylees in Toronto, Canada.

Additionally, Amelia is an adjunct instructor with BYU’s Department of Public Health, where she teaches the refugee and migrant health course, which explores health in the context of forced displacement.

Amelia holds a bachelor's in history from Idaho State University and a master of social work with an international emphasis from the University of Utah.