Kavita Batra

Assistant Professor and Medical Research Biostatistician, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
President-elect, Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health at UNLV
Expertise: Health behaviors, Global health, COVID-19, Vaccine hesitancy, Epidemiology, Health Disparities, Oral health, Statistics, Maternal and child health

Biography

Kavita Batra is an assistant professor and senior medical research biostatistician with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. Her research interests include maternal and child health, the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, understanding social determinants of health, and vaccine hesitancy. Batra is also part of an interdisciplinary UNLV team studying traffic safety, which includes linked Nevada traffic database research, analysis of improper use of child restraints on roadside injuries, and Statistical Transparency of Policing (STOP) grant.

Batra began her career in India as a dental surgeon and public health officer. After obtaining advanced public health degrees from UNLV, she joined the medical school's faculty, where she provides statistical and research training to faculty, residents, fellows, and medical students.

Batra has published multiple peer-reviewed articles to investigate the far-ranging impact of COVID-19 among diverse groups. Her work has received several mentions in media outlets, such as Medscape and Inside Higher Ed, and by researchers at the global level. One of her meta-analytical pieces of evidence was also utilized by the European Union to synthesize evidence related to mental health and resilience amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Batra serves on the topical advisory panel and editorial boards of several journals, including Dentistry, Vaccines, Annals of Epidemiology, Psychiatric Case Reports and Healthcare. Additionally, she serves as the director of internal medicine resident research at UNLV's medical school and is a member of the Nevada System of Higher Education's Sexual Misconduct Task Force and the state secretary for the Nevada Public Health Association.

Education

  • Ph.D., Public Health, UNLV
  • MPH, School of Public Health, UNLV
  • BDS, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College and Hospital, Pune, India

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Kavita Batra In The News

Las Vegas Review Journal
Many parents think their children’s baby teeth are just that — baby teeth that, with time, their children will lose. So, why should they take care of them? But dentists in Las Vegas warn that dismissive attitudes around oral hygiene can lead to more serious health issues.
Las Vegas Review-Journal En Español
Many parents think that their children's baby teeth are just that: baby teeth that their children will eventually lose. So why should they care for them? But Las Vegas dentists warn that dismissive attitudes about oral hygiene can lead to more serious health problems.
Medical Xpress
The researchers found that compared to women without breast cancer and depression, those who only had breast cancer or depression were 1.45 times or 1.43 times more likely to die, respectively. However, compared to those without breast cancer and depression, the risk of death more than tripled for women with both breast cancer and depression.
Sunday Guardian Live
The long Covid-19 lockdowns and the threat of health risks outside kept people isolated, holed up in their houses, and glued to their TV screens, laptops, and mobile phones in India. This sedentary lifestyle didn’t spare the children either. Even young preschoolers have started to spend more screen time—using mobile phones at an alarmingly high number of daily hours. Screen-watching among Indian preschoolers and children is much higher than the prescribed screen-watching limit set by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Articles Featuring Kavita Batra

woman with medical background graphic behind her
People | March 8, 2023

In addition to her own research projects, the biostatistician provides statistical and research training to faculty, residents, and students in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.

Students pose between U.N.L.V. letters
Campus News | July 9, 2021

A collection of news stories highlighting remembrance and improvement at UNLV.

medical personnel in PPE
Campus News | December 21, 2020

From groundbreaking research to breaking ground on a new medical education building, the UNLV School of Medicine continues to transform care in the community.