Rate My Professor Kahler Stone

Kahler Stone is an associate professor of public health in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Middle Tennessee State University, where he serves as the undergraduate coordinator for the Community and Public Health program and graduate coordinator for the MPH and Ph.D. programs in Community and Public Health. He joined MTSU in August 2018 initially as an assistant professor. Stone oversees the CEPH-accredited Bachelor of Science in Public Health program, which provides flexible on-ground and online options emphasizing health equity, evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary approaches to illness prevention, wellness promotion, and equitable health service access. He instructs courses such as Methods in Epidemiology, Introduction to Epidemiology, Assessment in Community and Public Health, and Environmental Health Research.

Stone holds a Doctor of Public Health in Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences from Texas A&M University School of Public Health (2018), with a dissertation titled Assessing the Impact of Epidemiology Surge Capacity Provided to Improve Foodborne Disease Reporting and Respond to High Consequence Infectious Disease in Texas. He earned a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology (2010) and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science (2008) from the same institution. His prior professional experience includes senior epidemiologist at Waco-McLennan County Public Health District (2013-2016), adjunct assistant professor at Sam Houston State University (2014-2018), instructor at Baylor University (2014-2015), laboratory manager for the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project (2010-2011), and various research and graduate assistant roles at Texas A&M University. Stone's research specializations encompass public health workforce burnout, anxiety, and depression during the COVID-19 response; epidemiologic surge capacity improvement; disaster impacts on public health services and staffing; environmental justice; climate change effects on health; foodborne and infectious disease epidemiology; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposures post-Hurricane Harvey. Notable publications include Public Health Workforce Burnout in the COVID-19 Response in the U.S. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021), The Impact of the COVID-19 Response on the Provision of Other Public Health Services in the U.S. (PLoS ONE, 2021), Changes to Timeliness and Completeness of Infectious Disease Reporting in Texas after Implementation of an Epidemiologic Capacity Program (Public Health Reports, 2021), and Characterizing Epidemiologic Surge Capacity in Texas, 2017 (Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2021). His work has garnered over 400 citations. Stone received the 2025 Academician of the Year award from the Tennessee Public Health Association, Texas A&M School of Public Health Student Achievement Award (2018), Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society induction (2014), National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health Fellowship (2014), and Texas Department of State Health Services Preparedness Leadership Award (2013). He contributes to public health through student mentorship, high school outreach programs, and organizing symposia.