Kaye Bender, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the owner of Kaye Bender Consulting, LLC, where she works as an independent public health, organizational, and education consultant and strategist. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Public Health Association. She is a part-time professor at the University of Mississippi schools of nursing and health-related professions. Dr. Bender teaches coursework in population health and public health science and theory & leadership in health systems.
Dr. Bender served as the President and CEO of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) in Alexandria, VA, from 2009-2019. She was the Dean of the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing prior to PHAB. She worked in state and local public health for several years in Mississippi and was the Deputy State Health Officer for the Mississippi Department of Health for 12 years. She served as President of the American Public Health Association from October 2021-2022. She is also a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; a board member of the National Board of Public Health Examiners; the Public Health Foundation; and is an Honorary Fellow in the Royal Society for Public Health. She served as a CEPH site visitor from 2021-2023. She has numerous publications and presentations related to governmental public health infrastructure improvement.