Director, Preventive and Occupational Medicine Residencies
Dr. Heather O’Hara-Rand, originally from St. Louis, MO, attained her B.S. in Chemistry from Tuskegee University, M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Georgia Institute Technology and, M.D. and M.S.P.H degrees from Meharry Medical College. She is a board-certified physician in Occupational Medicine and General Preventive Medicine and Public Health. As an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN, Dr. O’Hara-Rand serves as the Director for the Preventive and Occupational Medicine Residency programs. Her interests through her residency training have primarily been focused on helping others to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle related to understanding nutrition, physical activity, and the harms of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use to promote overall wellness. She has interests that span the topics of obesity, breast cancer, integrative health care, and workplace wellness and safety. She has published in peer-reviewed journals on studies related to migrant farmworker work safety perceptions, perinatal factors and breast cancer risk, integrative medicine, adverse childhood experiences, and sports nutrition needs before, during and after exercise. She utilizes these interests in multiple settings to provide education to students, residents, healthcare providers, and other workers. Select Scholarly Activity:
Co-Faculty Instructor, Occupational Health I and II, Meharry Medical College, School of Graduate Studies and ResearchChakrabarty S, Foderingham N, O’Hara H. Selected Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System. Family Medicine: Principles and Practice. March 2015. pp. 1545-1559.Arcury T, O’Hara H, Grzywacz J, Isom S, Chen H, and Quandt S. Work Safety Climate, Musculoskeletal Discomfort, Working While Injured, and Depression Among Migrant Farmworkers in North Carolina. Am J Public Health. May 2012:102(S2):pp. S272-S278.Zoorob R, Chakrabarty S, O'Hara H, Kihlberg C. Which CAM modalities are worth considering? J Fam Pract. 2014 Oct;63(10):585-90. Review. PMID: 25343156Cooper R, Ekundayo J, Dunlap J, O’Hara H. Medical Students’, Residents’ and Social Work Students’ Knowledge of Substance Use Screening and Interventions. APHA, Denver, CO, November 2, 2016.Arcury TA, Furgurson KF, O’Hara H, Miles K, Chen H, Laurienti PJ. Conventional and Complementary Therapy Use among Mexican Farmworkers in North Carolina: Applying the I-CAM-Q. J Agromedicine. In press (