She was the inaugural Endowed Professor of Diabetes Prevention and Outcomes Research and Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

She then went into private practice in the greater Hartford, Connecticut area before becoming the director of an inner-city clinic in Newark, New Jersey where her clientele was mostly African-Americans.

[1] She accepted a faculty position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in 2003, where she was the inaugural Endowed Professor of Diabetes Prevention and Outcomes Research and Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education.

[7] Prior to leaving UAB, Safford led a team to conduct a trial aiming to improve blood pressure in rural Southeastern African Americans with low socioeconomic status.

[10] In her role as Chief, Safford collaborated with researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine to investigate the usability of OurNotes, a platform that lets patients co-produce medical notes with clinicians.