Jennifer Peters

Since 2000, Jennifer Peters has worked at the Rural Health Office as a program coordinator and community-focused collaborative researcher in a wide range of areas, including state health systems, youth wellness, women's health, health and media literacy, building community capacity to address health needs, resource development (including grant writing), education and training (including curriculum development), policy analysis and advocacy and rural health issues. She has expertise in involving community members as participants in research projects and working with institutional review boards. Her interests are in public health infrastructure, education and training, collaborative leadership, program planning and evaluation, and mobilizing and engaging communities to examine their health and seek innovative solutions. Additionally, she has served as a federal grant reviewer for the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration for several years.

Peters is the coordinator for community health promotion and project coordinator for the Arizona State Office of Rural Health (SORH) program grant in the Rural Health Office at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. At the College, she develops, coordinates and delivers activities, including information analysis and dissemination; planning, outreach, education, and training; support for community resource development; and strengthening partnerships and collaborations to promote interest in rural and border community health concerns.

Peters is currently working to expand the Arizona Rural Women’s Health Initiative effort for the Rural Health Office. She has also been a guest lecturer at several graduate classes at the College, including CPH551 (Mass Communication for Public Health Promotion) and CPH532 (Health Program Planning and Evaluation).

Peters relocated to Tucson from Williamsburg, Virginia in 1996 and spent four (4) years working with a cooperative arts gallery in downtown Tucson before joining the Rural Health Office. Peters has been practicing media literacy and teaching media literacy skills to adults and youth since 2000, with concentrations on improving health and social resiliency, increasing political empowerment, and expanding the focus of health literacy to incorporate individual and community-level assets of critical inquiry, learning, and skill-building.

Education: B.A., Women's Studies, College of William and Mary, Virginia, 1995.

Languages Spoken: English