From ‘Raising Readers’ to raising awareness for colorectal cancer, Maine has many innovative wellness programs created with the health of the community in mind. Learn more through our discussions with Deborah Deatrick, Senior Vice President of Community Health Education at MaineHealth and Dr. Kathleen Fairfield of the Maine Center Shared Decision Making Program.
Guests
Deborah A. Deatrick
Our first featured guest is Deborah A. Deatrick, Senior Vice President of Community Health at MaineHealth. Deborah is a passionate advocate for healthy people and healthy communities. Her work in Maine spans almost 35 years, with stints in state government, universities, and health care. In her current position as Senior Vice President for Community Health at MaineHealth, the state’s largest health system, she leads efforts to prevent tobacco use, promote healthy eating and active lifestyles, and wellness. She’s an avid cyclist and prefers to eat local foods, with the exception of bananas.
Kathleen Fairfield
Our second featured guest is Kathleen Fairfield, MD, DrPH, of the Maine Center Shared Decision Making Program. Dr. Kathleen Fairfield is a primary care physician specializing in internal medicine, and a clinical investigator at the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, both at Maine Medical Center. Her research interests are in health services research for cancer and shared decision making. She has received research support from the American Cancer Society, the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, and Maine Cancer Foundation. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, completing an M.D. at Boston University School of Medicine, residency and fellowships at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and M.P.H. in Epidemiology and a Dr.P.H. in Epidemiology/Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health.
In addition to her research and clinical activities, Dr. Fairfield teaches medical residents skills in evidence based medicine and research, and serves as Associate Chief of Medicine for Research and Quality Improvement at MMC.