Title: Family Medicine Resident
Company: MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine
Location: Tacoma, WA
Education: MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry (2019); MS in Control of Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with Distinction (2015); BS in Anthropology, Beloit College, with Honors, Summa Cum Laude (2011); BS in Biochemistry, Beloit College, with Honors, Summa Cum Laude (2011)
Career History: Family Medicine Resident, MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine (2019-Present); Lab Technician, Center for Infectious Disease Research (2009, 2010-2013); Middle School Soccer Coach, Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012-2013); Research Assistant, Department of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington (2011-2012)
Kiera Nevers Hayes, MD, MSc, Family Medicine Resident at MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine, has been recognized as a Marquis Emerging Leader for their contributions and achievements in the field of health care.
Since 2019, Dr. Hayes has excelled at MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine, where she utilizes her expertise in the areas of public health while providing a wide range of services. Over the course of an average day at the Washington-based medical facility, she provides patient care in a variety of settings, including the emergency department, adult and pediatric hospitals, and labor and delivery unit, and is in charge of its Social Determinants of Health Committee, which works on developing clinic screening and follow-up tools, directs the management of collected data, and designs community outreach learning experiences for residents. The role is the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of interest in public health, medical anthropology, and homeless health.
Dr. Hayes first gravitated toward her career while in high school through a teacher who had traveled extensively and spoke about neglected diseases, vector-borne diseases, and the intersection between human behavior and health—all of which she found incredibly fascinating. She later double-majored in biochemistry and anthropology at Beloit College—ultimately graduating as valedictorian, summa cum laude, and with honors in 2011. Over the course of her studies, she performed laboratory work to gain experience with infectious diseases—working as a lab technician for the Center for Infectious Disease—and came to realize that while she enjoyed laboratory research, she wanted to spend time face-to-face with people in need of health care. Armed with a bachelor’s degree, she spent time in South Africa, studying health care system utilization between allopathic health care, religious healers, and traditional healers, and the reasons why people made different decisions about where to seek care. The experience made her want to devote more training to medicine and public health; according to her, as interesting as studying people’s behavior was, she really wanted to be able to give something substantial back. With public health and anthropology as her foundations, she pursued medical school.
Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Hayes obtained a Master of Science in Control of Infectious Disease from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2015 and then ultimately earned a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in 2019. In Rochester, beyond just receiving her doctorate, she engaged with homeless health as a volunteer for the UR Street Medicine and Homeless Response Team and helped develop an electronic medical record system for their street outreach work. While in her current position, she also serves as a National Health Service Corps scholar, through which she will be working in an underserved rural clinic, doing inpatient and outpatient work for underserved communities—hoping to continue to work with homeless and immigrant groups.
Outside of her primary endeavors, Dr. Hayes has been active as a volunteer for several health care initiatives and has lent her time and energy to such organizations as Health Alliance International and Harborview Medical Center. She is also a proud affiliate of the American Geriatrics Society, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, Washington Academy of Family Physicians, and a former member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and Gold Humanism Honor Society, among others. A devoted researcher and writer in the field, she has contributed numerous articles to professional journals, including the Washington Family Physician. Dr. Hayes has been recognized with the R. Knight Steel Award for Excellence in Geriatric Medicine, Department of Family Medicine Award, and a Costanza Community Impact Award.