Dr. Katie Baker

Originally from Greeneville, Katie graduated as valedictorian from Greeneville High School. She is the daughter of Joe Baker and Janet Hicks. Katie graduated from Furman University with a degree in health and exercise science. She earned her master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. She was selected as an “American Public Health Association Maternal and Child Health Fellow.”

Katie graduated from East Tennessee State University with a doctorate in public health in community and behavioral health. Her dissertation title was: Preventing Skin Cancer in Adolescent Girls Through Intervention with their Mothers.

She previously served as Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health. She has served as a Washington County Commissioner representing the 4th District. She received the Tri-Cities Business Journal’s 2015 “40 Under Forty” award. She is Project Lead on a longitudinal study assessing women’s contraceptive decision-making and pregnancy intentions in the US South. She was selected to present at the virtual Society of Family Planning Annual Meeting in October 2020.

Katie is a Scientific Review Officer with the Health Services & Systems Branch of the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health. She was selected in 2023 to serve a 3-year term on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Child Care Board.   Katie is married to William White and they reside in Limestone. They have two children, Laurel and Holston.