Dr. Ann Blair Kennedy is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville in the Biomedical Sciences Department, Division of Behavioral, Social, and Population Health and the Director of the Health Sciences Center Patient Engagement Studio at Prisma Health.
Dr. Kennedy’s unusual path begins with an undergraduate and a master’s degree in Theater/Directing. Dr. Kennedy is also a board certified and state licensed massage therapist. Her decade+ clinical massage therapy practice led to interest in massage therapy research and the realization that the often exclusion of massage therapists from planning and implementation in these studies led to less applicability to her clinical practice. A strong desire to improve massage therapy research through stakeholder engagement led to her pursuing a Doctor of Public Health degree in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. Her passion for stakeholder engagement in research expanded to include patients as co-investigators.