Department Chair / Associate Professor
Morgan State University
Kesha Baptiste-Roberts, PhD, MPH is the Chair of the Department of Public and Allied Health and an Associate Professor at Morgan State University, School of Community Health and Policy. She holds a Masters in Public Health degree from Saint Louis University, and completed a Maternal and Child Health Certificate in addition to PhD and postdoctoral training in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Baptiste-Roberts is an accomplished researcher, having authored or co-authored over 30 scientific publications. She is the co-editor of a book titled “Obesity in Pregnancy”. Dr. Baptiste-Roberts has published research in maternal and child health, women’s health, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and racial/ethnic health disparities. Her early work was primarily focused on pregnancy-related factors and their influence on cardiometabolic outcomes for both mother and offspring along the life-course. During her career, she worked on health among sexual minority women and substance abuse. Most recently, she has been working on improving maternal health for underserved communities utilizing telehealth and doula services. She is the principal investigator of an HRSA-funded maternal health disparities research center. She was the 2021 recipient of the Abraham Lilienfeld Award from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), which recognizes excellence in teaching epidemiology over the course of a career. She has held leadership roles in several national organizations, including the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the Society of the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI).