SPH welcomes Dr. Kayla Fair
October 24, 2019 • Uncategorized
The School of Public Health welcomes Kayla N. Fair, DrPH, MPH, BSN, RN, who has joined UNTHSC this semester.
This fall, she is teaching Theoretical Foundations for Individual and Community Health (PHED 5300) and Public Health Practice Experience (PHED 5297).
During her career, Dr. Fair has taught public health concepts in clinical, community, academic and organizational settings. As a registered nurse, public health educator and researcher, her experience includes more than 15 years in communicating complex information in scientific/medical environments and among other groups.
She has developed and facilitated health promotion trainings on a variety of topics with children as young as 4 and with adults at every stage of life, and she has trained and mentored nursing graduates and high school students, as well as undergraduate and graduate students with interests in healthcare, public health and research careers.
Dr. Fair’s own early career path as a registered nurse working in different clinical settings, including pediatrics, orthopedics and critical care, helped lead her to public health.
“As a nurse, I witnessed the devastating effects that chronic medical conditions could have on patients and their families, especially among uninsured and other vulnerable populations,” she said.
These experiences led Dr. Fair to research interests in the ways that organizations can effectively deliver health promotion strategies addressing the social determinants of health.
“Specifically, I am interested in how organizational culture facilitates or hinders the adoption, implementation and institutionalization of health promotion programs,” she said.
Along those lines, Dr. Fair has been involved with research initiatives relating to childhood obesity prevention projects in Title 1 Texas schools; multi-level interventions to promote physical activity among breast cancer survivors; the implementation of an electronic health risk assessment in Federally Qualified Health Centers; exercise and treatment outcomes among patients being treated for Major Depressive Disorder; and community-focused projects to reduce health disparities among the underinsured and uninsured in North Texas.
She is a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA), American Nurses Association (ANA), Texas Nurses Association (TNA) and the Delta Omega Honor Society in Public Health.
Dr. Fair holds a DrPH degree from Texas A&M University, an MPH degree from the University of Arizona, and a BSN degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
While at Texas A&M, she also earned a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management with emphasis on Fiscal and Performance Management from the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
Dr. Fair completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center’s nationally recognized Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care (CDRC).
The UNTHSC School of Public Health is pleased to welcome Dr. Fair to the faculty!
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