Dr. Claudia Fernandez

Claudia S. Plaisted Fernandez, DrPH, MS, RD, LDN

Professor
Department of Maternal and Child Health
Director of Executive Leadership Development
Office of Faculty Affairs, Office of the Provost
Leadership Core Director
Food Systems Leadership Institute
Director
ACOG National Leadership Institute
Program Director
Provost's Distinguished Faculty Leaders

About

Dr. Claudia Fernandez directs multiple national and international leadership institutes for senior-level professionals. She is the co-author of It-Factor Leadership: Become a Better Leader in 13 Steps. In 2024, the Food Systems Leadership Institute, a flagship leadership program of the U.S. public university system which she helped found in 2004, celebrated its 20th Cohort. Since 2006 she has directed the ACOG National Leadership Institute for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a program which has trained over 700 OB-GYNs from 12 countries. From 2015-2023, Dr. Fernandez served as the Co-Director and Co-PI of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Clinical Scholars program, and recently oversaw the publication of the book, Community Based Changes in the Culture of Health in the US: Experiences in Developing the Team and Impacting the Community (2021, InTech Publishers), documenting health equity impacts from the applied leadership projects of the Clinical Scholars Fellows. A new volume documenting the longer-term successful, sustainable and scalable community-based impacts is due in 2025. Dr. Fernandez is currently serving as the Director of Executive Leadership Development for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also serves as the Program Director for the Provost's Distinguished Faculty Leaders program, Office of Faculty Affairs, Office of the Provost.

Dr. Fernandez is a licensed and Registered Dietitian, and as such has a particular interest in leadership in healthcare systems and high-performing healthcare and public health teams. 

Dr. Fernandez has published her research outcomes, demonstrating the impact and effectiveness of her leadership programs. She is certified in a wide variety of leadership assessment tools and is an experienced executive coach.
In addition, Dr. Fernandez is a multi-genre novelist who was named as a national literary finalist in fiction in 2023 for her novel Victory! and in and 2024 for her novel Holy Orders.

Claudia Fernandez in the Gillings News

Honors and Awards

Leadership500
2015, HR.com

Leadership Excellence Awards
2016, Food Systems Leadership Institute named 2nd in U.S. for Open Enrollment Continuing Education with an Emphasis in Leadership and 3rd in the U.S. for Custom Content Programming in Continuing Education with an Emphasis on Leadership and Organizational Development, in partnership with NC State University

Teaching Interests

Dr. Fernandez focuses on executive leader development with post-graduate mid-to-senior level leaders, an approach typically structured around immersive education approaches.

Research Activities

Dr. Fernandez actively researches both the outcomes of the leadership institute programs in which she is involved and also how to effectively deliver executive development programs.

Service Activities

2015-2022 Chair of MCH Adjunct Professor's Committee

2023-2024 Associate Chair, Inclusive Excellence, Belonging and Engagement

2022--present Full Professor's Committee

2024-2025 Practical Effective Advocacy Laboratory (PEAL) Committee, Gillings School of Public Health

Practice Activities

Dr. Fernandez is Director of the Leadership Core for the Food Systems Leadership Institute, a flagship program of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.

Dr. Fernandez is the Director and PI of the ACOG Robert C. Cefalo National Leadership Institute.

Key Publications

Coming 2025: From Clinical Practice to Public Health Applications: the Successful, Sustainable and Scalable Outcomes of the Clinical Scholars Program. Claudia S. P. Fernandez, DrPH, MS, RD, LDN & Giselle Corbie, MD, MSc. . Publication Date: 2025 (2025). In Tech Publishers.

Community Based Changes in the Culture of Health in the US: Experiences in Developing the Team and Impacting the Community. Fernandez CSP, Corbie-Smith G.  (2021). In Tech Publishers.

It-Factor Leadership: Become A Better Leader in 13 Steps. Fernandez C, Fernandez R.  (2014). FastTrack Leadership.

Comparing the “Stickiness” of Equity-Centered Leadership Training for Physicians at 6-Months Post Program in Virtual vs. In-person Settings. Fernandez CSP; Hayes C; Adatsi G; Noble CC; Abel-Shoup M; Connolly A. (2024). Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 16.
View publication

Improving the Equity Landscape at U.S. Academic Institutions: 10 Strategies to Lead Change. Fernandez CSP, Taylor MM, Dave GJ, Brandert K, Larkin S*, Mollenkopf K*, Corbie G. (2024). Journal of Equity in Education and Society, 3(1), 18-32.
View publication

Comparing Virtual vs. In-person Leadership Training in Physician Cohorts. Journal of Healthcare Leadership. Fernandez CSP; Hayes C; Adatsi G; Noble CC; Abel-Shoup M; Connolly A. (2023). Online, 2023(15), 139-152.
View publication

Leadership development to advance health equity. Academic Medicine. Corbie G, Brandert K, Fernandez CSP, Noble CC (2022). Academic Medicine, 97(12), 1746-1752.

Advancing Health Equity Through Equity-Centered Leadership Development with Interprofessional Healthcare. Corbie G, Brandert K, Noble CC, Henry E*, Dave G, Berthiaume R, Green M, Fernandez CSP. (2022). J Gen Internal Medicine.
View publication

Clinical Scholars: Six Core Conclusions for Training Healthcare Professionals as Leaders Impacting Unbounded Systems. Invited and competitively selected manuscript for special edition. Fernandez CSP, Corbie G. (2021). Journal of Leadership Studies, 15(3), 1-8.

Career Trajectory in Academic Leadership: Experiences of Graduates of the Food Systems Leadership Institute. Fernandez CSP, Esbenshade K, Reilly C, Martin LC. (2021). Journal of Leadership Education, 20(3), 75-84.

Education

  • DrPH, Public Health Leadership / Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003
  • Post-Maste, Psychology, UNC-CH, 1995
  • Post-Maste, Psychology, Institute for Health Psychology, 1994
  • Post-Maste, Psychology, Harvard University Extension School, 1991
  • Post-Maste, Behavioral Medicine, The Institute of Behavioral Medicine New England Deaconess Hospital, 1990
  • MS, Clinical Nutrition, Boston University, 1988
  • BS, Dietetics / Nutrition, Miami University, 1986