Karam Ahmad

Karam Ahmad is a Policy Analyst at the Colorado Health Institute. He joined CHI in May 2017. He is experienced in translating complicated data, policies, and analyses for a variety of audiences and stakeholders. A native of Colorado, he has a passion for connecting the dots locally, with data and community input and an upstream focus on social factors that influence our health.

Karam leads evaluation work for the Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation and co-leads evaluation on the Denver Foundation’s Colorado Health Access Fund. Both efforts aim to understand the impact of philanthropy on oral health and behavioral health, respectively. Karam also leads CHI’s climate change and health work and is a subject matter expert in Social Health Information Exchange, contributing statewide guidance to the Office of eHealth Innovation.

Before joining CHI, he worked as a technical writer for Otter Products, LLC (more commonly known as OtterBox). He also was an analyst for the National Park Service and USDA Center for Epidemiological Animal Health. Karam also worked at RESOLVE, an environmental, public policy nonprofit in Washington, D.C., developing oil and gas and community health tutorials for public health professionals.

Karam received a bachelor’s degree in evolutionary biology & psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He earned his master’s degree in public health from the Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University and a certificate in Climate Change and Health from Yale University.

In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, watching Denver sports, eating spicy food, and DJing.

Sample Projects:

• Statewide Needs Assessment of Primary Prevention for Substance Abuse
• Putting Prevention Science to Work: Colorado’s First Strategic Plan for Primary Prevention of Substance Abuse
• Global Issue, Local Risk: CHI’s Health and Climate Index
• Catalyst or Challenge? COVID-19 Proved Denver Can Have Clean Air. But Can We Keep It
• Veteran Suicide: A Growing Problem in Colorado
• Screening for Hep C Climbs in Colorado
• Colorado Health Access Fund Evaluation
• Alternative Payment Model for Primary Care Guidebook

Skills:

Evaluation, facilitation and convening, technical guidance, needs assessment, policy analysis, data translation, visual conceptualization

Focus Areas:

• Evaluation
• Health information technology
• Oral health
• Climate change and environmental health
• Behavioral health

I Do This Work Because…I care deeply about my community’s well-being. At the end of the day, our common denominator is our health. I am passionate about advancing the health and well-being of my community through sound evidence-based research, evaluation, and analyses. This cannot happen without listening to the voices of all Coloradans, and I believe CHI’s position as a nonpartisan research institute is more important now than ever before.

Contact: ahmadk@coloradohealthinstitute.org