Kathryn Janda-Thomte

Kathryn Janda-Thomte is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at Baylor University, where she teaches, conducts research, mentors students, and serves as the MPH Capstone Coordinator for Community Health Sciences. She joined Baylor University in 2022 after completing her postdoctoral training.

Dr. Janda's educational background includes an MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health (2015), a PhD from UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston (Austin Campus) (2020), and a postdoctoral fellowship through the National Cancer Institute Cancer Research Training Program at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston (2022).

Her research focuses on food insecurity mitigation and improving healthy food access to promote health equity in underserved populations. Utilizing the social-ecological model, she investigates where and among whom food insecurity and limited healthy food access occur, and how community-engaged programs can be designed and evaluated to address these disparities. Her methodological approach integrates geospatial, quantitative, and qualitative techniques to analyze multi-level influences on public health outcomes.

Dr. Janda teaches courses including PUBH 5360: Evaluation in Public and Community Health and PUBH 5699: Capstone in Community Health Science. While no specific publications or awards are listed in the provided text, her work emphasizes applied, community-based research with practical implications for public health policy and programming.

She actively collaborates with community organizations to develop and evaluate interventions aimed at reducing health disparities. Her role as Capstone Coordinator further underscores her commitment to student mentorship and real-world public health application.