Kia Byrd is a current MS1 in the New Pathway program and native of Jackson, Mississippi. In May 2014, she received a BS degree in biology from the illustrious Howard University. A proud Bison, Kia was active in a number of organizations on Howard’s campus, including America’s Promise—a mentoring program for DC inner-city youth—and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholars Program. She also sang as a member of the Howard University Choir, touring concert venues throughout Jamaica and the US, including the White House. In 2013, as a Harvard School of Public Health Multidisciplinary International Research Training Fellow, Kia conducted public health research at the Addis Continental Institute of Public Health in Addis Ababa and the Bulbula Rural Community Health Center in Bulbula, Ethiopia. Abroad, she also had the opportunity to volunteer with AHOPE Ethiopia, an orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Raised in both rural and predominantly minority communities, Kia is interested in research examining the structure of community health systems employing community health/extension workers in rural portions of the southern United States and abroad. Her goal is to utilize her career in medicine as a platform for advocacy in both minority and women’s health, examining the social etiologies of health disparities. She is excited to serve as the VP of SNMA and hopes to utilize her position as a means of connecting the minority communities of Boston to the HMS community.

In her free time, she enjoys music, martial arts films, and Broadway musicals.