Dr. Sharla Smith currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Smith also serves as the Co-Principal Investigator of the Kansas Public Health Practice-Based Research Network, which brings together public health practitioners, academicians, and policymakers. Dr. Smith’s research focuses on strategies for organizing and financing public health services, access to preventive care services, program and partnership development, maternal and child health, and sexual health for vulnerable populations. She has over 12 years of experience manipulating large datasets and performing descriptive, cross-sectional, and longitudinal data analysis using SAS and Stata.
Dr. Smith earned an undergraduate degree in biology from The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and has a Ph.D. in Health Systems and Services Research with a concentration in Health Economics.