Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative | Boston, MA

Jen Cruz, MPH (she/her) is a first-generation Population Health Sciences PhD student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Jen was born and raised in Wapato, WA – a small, rural community located on the Yakama Reservation that continues to inspire her academic work and organizing efforts. Jen is passionate about the intersection of community, public health, and equity. Her doctoral research is focused on how we can best integrate epidemiological methods into community-centered work and evidence-based policy development to address health inequities.

Jen is a predoctoral fellow at the Harvard/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Educational Program in Cancer Prevention, a National Institutes of Health T32 grant, as well as a member of the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights PhD & DrPH cohort. She is also a research fellow in the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity working on projects focused on increasing preventative cancer screening in community healthcare settings. She also supports community-based participatory research focused on capacity building in community-based organizations. Outside of the institution, Jen is an active member of the Allston-Brighton community.

Before starting her PhD, Jen received her BS in Psychology from Seattle University and her MPH in Global Health Epidemiology from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She was also a Fulbright-Nehru Student Research grant recipient.