Kristi L. Anderson, Ph.D., currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Research for the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, LSU Health Sciences Center, Lafayette LA Campus. In her role, she provides oversight of the accreditation of graduate medical education (GME) and undergraduate medical education (UME) programs on the Lafayette campus, working collaboratively with GME and UME offices in New Orleans and with affiliated clinical partners. She is also adjunct faculty for Tulane University School of Medicine where she teaches in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Dr. Anderson received her doctoral degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) in Monroe, LA, in the College of Health Sciences. Her doctorate lies within the concentration of systemic studies, which has origins in marriage and family therapy, focusing on the diverse principles to transform and change. She has represented ULM in Berlin, Germany where she was selected to study in Hanover, Germany and participate as a student member of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). She was nominated for Who’s Who Among American Universities and Colleges and was also inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

As an Assistant Professor of Research within the Department of Medicine, Dr. Anderson works with academic faculty, residents and students on the Lafayette Campus. She works to create innovative and progressive means of educating medical learners, identifying ways in which systemic factors influence behavior, success and/or autonomy. She completed and is certified by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in the Graduate Medical Education Leadership Development Course and was nominated for the Teaching and Service to the School of Medicine Award. She serves as the campus ombudsperson, supporting students both professionally and personally and serves as the Diversity and Inclusion liaison between the LSU School of Medicine and the Lafayette branch campus. In that role, she works with the Office of Diversity & Community Engagement, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) DEI Officer’s Leadership Forum and local strategists of diversity, equity and inclusion to foster and nurture dialogue and change within those spaces for teaching physicians and medical learners. She has additional training from Yale School of Management Executive Education in Fostering Diversity and Inclusion. Recently, Dr. Anderson has developed a Health Disparities Grant Program for the LSUHSC School of Medicine with the Interim Chancellor for the School of Medicine and the Associate Dean for Research in response to the national call of awareness to and elimination of healthcare disparities and the understanding and movement toward diversity, equity and inclusion. The grant awards faculty, fellows, residents and students for research projects within the spaces of disparities, inequities, diversity, and inclusion within our training hospitals and communities. She hopes to further mentor students and residents within the spaces of health disparities while encouraging research and scholarly activity to address and transform communities and training sites. Dr. Anderson serves on various committees within LSU School of Medicine, such as the Health Equity Curriculum Committee, Admissions Oversight Committee and the Rural Scholars Track Steering Committee.

Dr. Anderson’s professional interests include academic medicine, medicine and humanities and diversity, inclusion and equity. Her doctoral research centered on the understanding of educating African Americans and how it has affected interest and entry in today’s medical schools. She has worked to create opportunities for the spaces of diversity, transformation of what is termed “systematic and usual” within the educational setting and continues to examine ways in which systems determine quality and fit. She lectures within the Lafayette community about the value of medical education and has also presented at national conferences regarding her research within race and ethnicity. She continues to lecture to residents and students within medical education and hosts events on race and equity. In her gratis appointment at Tulane School of Medicine, she and her co-instructors created the course, “Medicine and Identity” which focuses on critical areas of race, gender and ability.

Dr. Anderson continues to provide service and commitment to the efforts of her Acadiana community. She currently serves on the Governor’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, where she and the other subcommittee members focus on Racial Disparities in Healthcare. Their recommendations for the state are centered on equitable crisis standards of care, implicit bias training for all healthcare professionals and awareness and regulations to nonprofit hospital systems with respect to the Community Health Needs Assessment. She is also a member of the Louisiana Health Works Commission where she works with other healthcare members throughout the state to coordinate resources and advancement for health care workforce development within organizations.