LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, MD, MPH

Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, a board-certified family physician, is the Director of the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) in Louisville, KY. As an independent health department, the LMPHW provides programs and services to the 750,000 residents of Louisville through three divisions: Clinical Services, Community Health, and Environmental Health and Emergency Preparedness. In addition, the department is home to the Center for Health Equity which aims to achieve equity in the social determinants of health throughout Metro Louisville using a "health in all policies" approach. The agency works across all parts of the community to ensure that all
residents have opportunities to make choices that allow them to live long healthy lives regardless of their income, education or ethnic background. Dr. Nesbitt also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Systems Science at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences and is an Associate of the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine in the School of Medicine.

As health director, Dr. Nesbitt is committed to five strategic priorities for Louisville Metro: creating a culture of health and wellness; an expanding focus on social determinants of health and health equity; strengthening public-private partnerships; increasing the connection between public health and clinical medicine; and implementing an outcomes driven approach to program and policy development. Since coming to LMPHW Dr. Nesbitt has lead the agency to: release the first Louisville Metro Health Equity Report; expand the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement to include tobacco prevention and control and chronic disease prevention and management; establish the Mayor’s
Healthy Hometown Leadership Team; develop public- private partnerships to implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Transformation Grant program; and work with all local healthcare systems to complete their community health needs assessments and community health
improvement plans as required by national healthcare reform.

Prior to her current role at LMPHW, Dr. Nesbitt served separate terms as Senior Deputy Director for the Community Health Administration and Senior Deputy Director for the Center for Policy, Planning, and Evaluation at the District of Columbia Department of Health. Prior to joining the District of Columbia Department of Health Dr. Nesbitt was Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Senior Coordinator for Health Disparities and Policy Research Initiatives in the Office of Policy & Planning at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her responsibilities encompassed providing primary care services to patients in inner-city Baltimore including adolescent health services, preventive medicine services, and chronic disease management with an emphasis on hypertension and diabetes care. Her academic interests include racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes and health care services, workforce diversity, and improving access to care for the uninsured and underinsured through population health management, policy and health services research.

In addition to her professional activities, Dr. Nesbitt is an active member of the Louisville community serving on a number of boards including: Greater Louisville Medical Society, Kentucky
Science Center, American Heart Association of Kentuckiana, Louisville Sports Commission, The Healing Place, and Health Enterprise Network. Dr. Nesbitt was also appointed by Governor Steve Beshear to a four year term as a member of Kentucky’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated’s Louisville Alumnae Chapter.

Dr. Nesbitt received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health in Health Care Management and Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Nesbitt completed an internship in family medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Nesbitt completed her family medicine residency in the University
of Maryland’s Department of Family Medicine where she served as chief resident. Dr. Nesbitt completed her fellowship training with the Commonwealth Fund Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy.