Community Health Epidemiology Program Manager
Virginia Department of Health
Dr. Kenesha Smith Barber, MSPH is an experienced public health researcher and epidemiologist. She is skilled in data analysis, program planning, grant and manuscript writing, and stakeholder engagement. Dr. Barber is the Community Health Epidemiology Program Manager and the Primary Investigator 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 and works with VA stakeholders and researchers to study maternal and infant health outcomes, non-communicable diseases, and areas of improvement in community health. 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 fun for undergraduate students. Dr. Barber’s work aims to reduce health disparities and improve maternal and child health outcomes using data in Virginia.