Bruce Cooper has been medical director the Health District of Northern Larimer County for the past 13 years. The Health District is a unique special tax district that provides medical, mental health, dental and preventive services to residents of the district as well as health planning and policy advocacy for the community. Prior to coming to the health district, Bruce practiced for 15 years as a primary care physician in Evergreen, Colorado.
He describes himself as “generalist” in public health and an “enthusiast” of evidence-based health and public health policy and practice. He has worked on a wide variety of community health and public health issues, ranging from directing a community immunization registry, participating as an advisor on the Fort Collins “Fluoride Technical Study Group” convened to advise the city council on the risks and benefits of community water fluoridation, to authoring one of the four comprehensive health care reform proposals evaluated by the state of Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform.
Bruce’s current work activities place him at the intersection of public health and health services in Fort Collins, working with other local agencies to monitor community health indicators and use data for planning and policy advocacy, integrate mental health and substance abuse services into primary care, enhance public health preparedness and promote health information exchange. He also serves on the Human Research Institutional Review Board of Colorado State University.
Bruce has a master of science degree in public health from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where he also completed a residency in preventive medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Nebraska School of Medicine and completed postgraduate training in family medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Minnesota. He is board certified in both family medicine and preventive medicine and is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.