Christy J.W. Ledford, PhD, FACH
Professor & Vice Chair, Family & Community Medicine
Curtis G. Hames, MD, Distinguished Chair, Family Medicine
Director, HamesNet
Research Summary:
Christy J.W. Ledford, PhD, FACH, is Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, where she is the Curtis G. Hames, MD, Distinguished Chair for the Department of Family Medicine. Ledford serves as Director of HamesNet, a practice-based research network. As a communication scientist, Ledford collaborates with scientists, clinicians, and community co-researchers to translate emerging science into patient-centered practice. Ledford’s mixed methods research explores the multigenerational experience of diabetes with the goal of reducing health disparities and ending the legacy of diabetes in the American South. After a career in public relations, Ledford earned her MS in technical journalism from Colorado State University and her PhD in health communication from George Mason University. She taught interpersonal and organizational communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels before transitioning to medical education in 2011. Ledford uses her communication training and experience to teach learners and colleagues how to tell their own stories, whether they are about research findings, personal experiences, or professional and organizational identities. Ledford completed the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Medical Journalism fellowship in 2015 and is currently associate editor at the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine and assistant editor at Family Medicine.