Basil Safi began working for Johns Hopkins University in September 2005, where he now facilitates national public health activities in the Middle East.

Previous to this, he had spent a large part of 2005 in South Sudan and saw the extent of hardships that can befall a region plagued by turmoil. His role there was to set up a rural water supply protection program to
alleviate the suffering of Guinea Worm disease that is spread through unsafe water supplies.

Previous to this experience, Basil received his BS in Civil Engineering with
minors in International Studies and Environmental Science from Emory University. Upon graduation in 2000, he took a project manager position with the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services in Virginia working at several environmental sanitation facilities. In August 2003, he left his job to pursue a Masters of Public Health (MPH). Over the course of this program, he worked with the Carter Center and taught a graduate classes in vaccine strategies for the international health department. For his thesis research, Basil worked on the political and village level to address environmental regulations associated with the mining industry in Bolivia.

Additionally, he trained local populations on how to protect their drinking
sources using locally available materials.