Bryan Bayles

Background

About Bryan Bayles

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST/PUBLIC HEALTH Professional Research Assistant Professor in Public Health, Department of Life Sciences; Texas A&M University San Antonio; Dr. Bayles has also held faculty appointments (currently Adjunct Associate Professor) in the University of Texas Health at San Antonio’s Department of Family and Community Medicine for over 19 years, where he also served as the Assistant Director of the Center for Integrative Health and is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at UTSA. Dr. Bayles is currently Vice-Chair of the San Antonio Mayor's Fitness Council Executive Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors for Community First Health Plans. Dr. Bayles also serves as the Director for the Joint Admissions Medical Program (JAMP) at A&M-SA. JAMP is a unique program created by the Texas Legislature to provide support and encouragement for economically disadvantaged students from across the State of Texas to successfully matriculate into medical school and pursue a career in medicine. Dr, Bayles works with numerous partners to bridge community sectors to create innovative, sustained partnerships for culturally competent transformative social change. Possesses particular expertise in the areas of merging qualitative and quantitative research methodologies for the design, implementation and evaluation of community public health interventions. PhD in Anthropology (University of Missouri-Columbia) and a Masters Degree in Public Health (University of Texas School of Public Health-Houston; San Antonio). Has worked closely with biomedical clinicians as well as indigenous midwives and traditional healers in Chiapas, Mexico, and curanderos throughout South Texas and Mexico. Previous Curator of Anthropology & Health responsible for content development, program oversight and strategic health initiatives of the Witte Museum's pioneering permanent exhibition: the H-E-B Body Adventure Powered by University Health System. This exhibition won multiple national awards for its innovative use of interactive technologies and multimedia to nurture community health, while also generating actionable data at the zip-code level on social determinants of health and behavior for tens of thousands of school-age youth and adults in Texas. A meditation practitioner for more than 15 years in the lineage of H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, Dr. Bayles also has a strong interest in the development and research in post-traumatic growth, and mindfulness-based interventions for the support of the emotional and mental well-being of people of all ages.