Jini Puma

University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus

Biographical Abstracts

Jini Puma is an associate professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health (CBH) and associate director of the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center (RMPRC), both located in the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) at the University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Puma has been conducting community-engaged research with parents and caregivers of young children for 20 years. She has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on numerous implementation and research grants, funded by various local foundations and state and federal agencies, all which have aimed to increase the health and well-being of various marginalized populations, including low-income, rural, refugee, and Latinx populations. Puma's research interests include early childhood obesity prevention, adverse childhood experiences, mental health and well-being promotion of the early childhood workforce and community-based participatory research methodology. She received her doctorate in quantitative research methods at the University of Denver in 2007 and has been with the RMPRC since then. Puma has received several awards, including the Gertrude Cox Scholarship Honorable Mention in 2004, given to outstanding women in the field of statistics; the Master's Scholar Award in 2012, given to nine distinguished University of Denver alumni for the work they are doing in their fields; the ColoradoSPH Excellence in Research Award in 2019; the Faculty Excellence in Advising and Mentoring Award in the Community and Behavioral Health (CBH) in 2021; and the Faculty Excellence in Research Award in CBH in 2022.

Areas of Expertise

• Early childhood obesity prevention
• Mental health and well-being promotion
• Maternal and child health