Kathleen Fairfield, MD, MPH, DrPH

Co-Director, the Academy at MITE
Vice Chair for Research and Quality, Department of Medicine

Dr. Fairfield is an internist, medical educator, and health services researcher. She completed an M.D. at Boston University School of Medicine, followed by internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. She then completed the Harvard Medical School fellowship in General Medicine, earning her Masters in Public Health, followed by a Doctorate in Public Health focused on Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. After serving on the faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Fairfield joined MMC in 2002.

Dr. Fairfield serves as Co-Director of the Academy. Her education work includes leading the Certificate in Healthcare Improvement, which trains inter-professional teams and medical students in the Maine Track about improvement science, health care safety, population health, and leadership. She also co-developed a research course for residents and fellows that has been completed by more than 500 trainees at Maine Medical Center. Dr. Fairfield also studies and teaches shared decision-making models of care and health services research methods. Dr. Fairfield serves as Vice Chair of Medicine for Research and Quality Improvement at MMC. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Dr. Fairfield sees patients and supervises residents in the International and Travel Clinics at MMC and serves as Medical Director for the Portland Community Free Clinic. Her professional focus is improving the health of the people of her home state of Maine through excellent clinical care, medical education, and research.

Email: fairfk@mmc.org