Kezia Edmonson PhD, MHAP

Education

Ph.D., Health Services Research (Health Systems and Policy), George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (2021-2024)
M.S., Health Administration and Policy, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD (2011-2013)
B.S., Business Administration, University of Maryland, University College, College Park, MD (2008-2010)

Biography

LCDR Kezia Edmonson is an active-duty U.S. Navy Health Care Administrator who has served the military for 20 years. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor and Director for the Health Administration and Policy program in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). A native of Oregon, in the last twenty years Kezia has resided in seven different states and also spent 10 years overseas. She enlisted in the US Navy as a Seaman Recruit directly after high school, beginning her career as a Hospital Corpsman in Great Lakes, Illinois, she transferred to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in August 2005 where she served as the Leading Petty Officer of the Intensive Care Unit for two years. Her first overseas assignment, to US Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan, began in 2008 where she worked in Information Technology and would later be assigned as the Leading Petty Officer for the island’s northern clinics. There she would complete both her associate and bachelor’s degrees, and earned a commission through the Medical Service Corps In-service Procurement Program. Commissioned as an Ensign in April 2011, she would briefly complete her first tour in the Human Resources Department before being selected to complete her master’s degree at USU. Graduating with a Masters in Health Administration and Policy (MHAP) in 2013, she then transferred to Camp Pendleton, California where she would serve as the Department Head of Patient Administration, and later transfer to the Materials Management Department where she played a significant role in the establishment of the new hospital opened there in 2014, as well as completed two of the largest patient evacuation movements that hospital had seen due to the transfer and later, wildfires in the area. In 2016, she completed her second overseas tour, transferring to 3rd Medical Battalion, Okinawa Japan where she spent time in the S1 and S3 shops before being selected as the Battalion’s Operations Officer where she planned the battalion’s single largest operation in its history, and was moved up to the Marine Logistics Group level as the Assistant Chief of Staff, Deputy S4 Officer by the end of her tour. In 2018 she opted for a second overseas tour, this time transferring back to Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan as an Officer, and the Department Head of the Human Resources Department. Assigned there from 2018-2021, she played a key role in the COVID operations on the island while simultaneously orchestrating complex transfers of key emergency personnel during the unprecedented stop movement orders, before being competitively selected to complete her Ph.D. in 2021. She attained her Ph.D. in Health Services Research with a concentration in Health Policy from George Mason University in May 2024, and was proud to be welcomed back to USU, this time as an Assistant Professor for the same MHAP program she graduated from 11 years prior. Her research interests focus primarily on mental health and suicidality in military family members as well as care continuity within the MHS.

Representative Bibliography

Edmonson, K. S. (Presenter). (2024). Mental Wellbeing in our Communities: Children and Families. Connecting People to the Right Care, at the Right Time, and the Right Place. Oral presentation and panel discussion at the 7th Annual Hero’s Journey Symposium, Washington, D.C.

Edmonson, K. S. (Presenter). (2024). Mental Health Disparities in Military Affiliated vs. Civilian Adolescents: Analysis of 2015-2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Data. Abstract and oral presentation at the Military Health System Research Symposium, Orlando, FL.

Edmonson, K. S. (2024). Mental Health Disparities in U.S. Military Adolescents and Telehealth Disparities in Medicaid: A Multi-Method Study Using Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods. [Doctoral Dissertation, George Mason University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

Co-Investigator. National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) grant. ORP#224011; award value $54,919. Medicaid Telehealth Policy in Marginalized Communities. May 2022-June 2024.