Jill Guernsey De Zapien

Jill Guernsey de Zapien is the Associate Dean for Community Programs at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.  With an academic professional appointment, Dean de Zapien has been involved in community based public health interventions and research in Arizona and throughout the Southwest and Mexico for more than twenty years.  As co-investigator of the Canyon Ranch Center for Prevention and Health Promotion, the Reach 2010 Project, the Binational TIES and PIMSA Projects, the Border Women’s Health Institute and the Center for Health Equality, Dean de Zapien   has partnered across the university to work directly with communities in the Southwest and Northern Mexico to develop strategies for prevention interventions and the elimination of health disparities.

Dean de Zapien is particularly proud of her collaborative work with the promotora movement throughout Arizona and her long-term commitment to community based participatory research and action.   She has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognition for her work throughout the Southwest and Mexico.   In 2002 she was the first recipient of the University of Arizona’s prestigious Koffler award recognizing outstanding community outreach and service and the New Mexico Border Health Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2006 she received the Southwest Leadership Award in Women’s Health.   Most recently, she is serving at Principal Investigator of the Rural Health Professions Program which has provided the framework for the development and implementation of a strong Service Learning Program for the College of Public Health which includes our Border Health Service Learning Institute.  Dean de Zapien is a co-author on over 50 publications and reports.

Research Interests:  Her research includes conducting the Primary Health Care Review and the Ambos Nogales Primary Health Care Project. These projects were collaborative initiatives with five U.S. and Mexican research institutions as well as the Pan American Health Organization. Other research has focused on the implementation of numerous community-based studies looking at prevalence and risk factors for a variety of public health concerns, (substance abuse, cancer, lupus, diabetes, etc.).