Community Health Epidemiology Program Manager
Virginia Department of Health
Dr. Kenesha Smith Barber is the Community Health Improvement Epidemiology Program Manager and the PI for the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) at the Virginia Department of Health. She leads a team of coordinators and epidemiologists who conduct and analyze population-based data in Virginia and works with community health and maternal and child health partners and researchers to study maternal and infant health outcomes, non-communicable diseases, and areas of improvement in community health. Dr. Barber is skilled in data analysis, program planning and coordination, grant and manuscript writing, and partner engagement. She holds an MPH and PhD from the University of North Carolina- Charlotte with a concentration in MCH epidemiology. In addition, she holds the role of adjunct faculty in VCU's School of Social Work, where she faces one of her biggest professional challenges: making evidence-based statistics digestible and interesting for undergraduate students.