Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge

Dr. Wyche-Etheridge has a strong interest in prenatal and perinatal health outcomes/disparities, especially as they relate to infant mortality. In her current position, she oversees 13 programs, ranging from school health to home visiting programs. She has introduced programs for at-risk pregnant teens and to promote community health screenings, as well as educational and maternal health programming through area faith-based institutions. She initiated a program for high school students to learn the basics of public health, and established Lentz University, an internal employee public health 101 program to guide the health department towards accreditation. She served as interim chief medical officer for the department, as well as co-director. In 2003, she founded the Nashville chapter of the Birthing Project. She is committed to improving the quality, access, and acceptability of care for underprivileged, underserved children teens, and families, and to changing the systems that perpetuate the inequities. She participates actively in community advocacy and outreach initiatives, and uses the media to spread health messages throughout the community. She has worked to change clinical practice by teaching medical students and master's students to practice culturally-competent primary care and public health. Dr. Wyche-Etheridge sees the transition of health policy into practice at the level of the community as the key to improving health. Dr. Wyche-Etheridge received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA in 1993, and completed her pediatric residency at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC in 1996. She received her M.P.H. in 2000 from the Harvard School of Public health while completing a CFHU Fellowship. E-mail: [email protected]