Kayla de la Haye

Kayla de la Haye, Ph.D., is a Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health who works to promote health and prevent disease by studying how social relationships and everyday environments shape public health. Her research examines how family and community networks, built environments, and public policies work together to influence eating habits, nutrition security, and lifestyle behaviors linked to chronic disease. Her work shows that health behaviors are not simply individual choices—they are shaped by the social and economic conditions in which people live. She also studies how social networks support group problem solving in families, teams, and community coalitions.

Drawing on behavioral science, network science, and systems science, Dr. de la Haye collaborates with transdisciplinary, cross-sector, and community-engaged partners to design practical, evidence-based strategies that improve healthy eating and nutrition security—especially for populations facing the greatest barriers to good health. Using tools such as social network analysis, large-scale data, and digital health technologies, she develops real-world interventions that address the complex systems influencing health. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the American Heart Association.

Dr. de la Haye previously served on the faculty at the University of Southern California, where she founded and directed the USC Food Systems Institute, and was a scientist at the RAND Corporation. In 2018, she received the Freeman Award from the International Network of Social Network Analysis (INSNA) for significant contributions to the study of social structure. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Adelaide, Australia.