Jessica Dunbar joined the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) as a community initiatives research assistant in February 2006 to help develop the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) and provide project management for Colorado’s participation in the nationwide Privacy and Security Health Information Technology Project. Currently, she is a senior research analyst working on several projects including CHI's Safety Net Indicators and Monitoring System and the Colorado Health Report Card produced annually in collaboration with The Colorado Health Foundation. In this role, Jessica is responsible for assisting in the development and maintenance of strategic partnerships around the state, providing technical expertise on population-based surveys and conducting data analyses. Other areas of Jessica’s research expertise include food policy, social determinants of health and obesity prevention.

Jessica earned a master of science in public health degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in December 2006. Her master’s thesis, which focused on social and biological factors that influence the timing of sexual activity and subsequent pregnancy in adolescents, was published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2008.

Before coming to CHI, Jessica worked as a clinical case manager for the Mental Health Center of Denver, advocating for the needs of low-income disabled adults from 2000-03. From 2003-04 she worked at the Colorado Adolescent Maternity Program as a case worker and database manager. She holds a BS in psychology and a BA in religious studies from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.

Jessica is married to Tim Dunbar who works as an accounting manager at a nonprofit called FOCUS. She is proud mother of a two-year-old daughter and is expecting another child in March 2010. Her interests include running, snowshoeing, reading, cooking, traveling and gardening. For the last six years Jessica has served on the Board of Directors for an inner-city organization, Open Door Ministries, which works to provide supportive services such as housing, education and child care to homeless individuals and families in Denver.