Zoey Kernodle is an Assistant Research Professor at UNC Kenen-Flagler and Director of the UNC Center for the Business of Health (CBOH). She has led CBOH since its launch in late 2018 and oversees the center’s strategy, research, and programs. In this role, she has built a robust community of healthcare industry professionals, students, faculty, and community members committed to improving health and well-being in North Carolina and beyond.

In her research, Dr. Kernodle examines how cultural narratives and social structures shape health. She considers how social ethics frameworks can be applied across healthcare and public health practice, especially as it relates to leadership, community engagement, and health policy. She writes about trade-offs in U.S. healthcare and convenes industry leaders annually to explore how these challenges and opportunities play out in practice.

Her work and research underscores the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives and seeks to find shared values and practices that can improve individual, communal, and population level health.

Prior to joining UNC in 2018, Zoey worked in healthcare research and consulting at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C.

She received a DrPH from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She has a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) degree from Emory University where she studied ethics and political philosophy, and a BA in religious studies from North Carolina State University. She serves on the board of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.