Jennifer M. Jabson Tree

Areas of Expertise

• Dr. Jabson Tree has expertise teaching graduate courses in Health and Society, Program Evaluation, Systems of Oppression and Health, and Dissemination and Implementation Science. In her courses she teaches students the ways in which social structures—economic stability, neighborhood and built environment, education, social and community context, and access to healthcare—cause and influence health systems, health, and disease. In her courses students and evaluate how social determinants intersect with systems of privilege and oppression, including racism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, sexism, and cis-sexism, which also shape and influence health and disease.
• With funding provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Jabson Tree and colleagues are working on a project to address structural racism at multiple levels of a federally qualified health care center in order to improve access to care, healthcare outcomes, and health equity for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. She also works with regional and local healthcare systems and health departments to improve healthcare to become affirming and competent for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer patients and clients.

HHS Signature Research Area(s)

• Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity

Department of Public Health Research Area(s)

• Health Disparities
• Intervention and Implementation Science
• Health Systems and Policies

Biography

Jennifer M. Jabson Tree earned her MPH (2006) and PhD (2010) at Oregon State University College of Public Health and Human Sciences.  After completing her doctoral training, she was awarded a competitive fellowship grant by the American Cancer Society for three years of focused training and research in cancer control and prevention, for vulnerable populations, at Boston University School of Public Health.  She then spent 10 years as a faculty member at University of Tennessee, in the Department of Public Health. Dr. Jabson Tree joined Purdue University, Department of Public Health in 2023.

Dr. Jabson Tree has a track record of extramural funding provided by national organizations including the NIH Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institute on Aging, American Cancer Society, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. This funding has supported my research addressing health inequity experienced by marginalized populations, at multiple levels across the social ecological model including the individual, interpersonal and systems level.

Her main goal is to apply anti-oppression principles to improve health inequity and address health disparities among medically underserved groups. This vision involves addressing health inequity at multiple levels across the social ecological model.

At the individual level, she uses secondary health surveillance data sources to empirically document health inequities in food security, stress, health care access, and cancer survivorship care experiences. This work informed the interventions she implements, community-based partnerships she builds, and future research she engages.

At the systems level, Dr. Jabson Tree works with medical students, current providers, and healthcare systems to address bias, access to care, and culturally humble and informed care for populations vulnerable to structural and interpersonal exclusion, marginalization, and bias. This has included training medical students in medical schools and healthcare providers in federally qualified health care centers in LGBTQ+ culturally informed care and working with federally qualified healthcare systems to address structural racism within the organization.

Dr. Jabson Tree is also passionate about teaching and her courses are framed by two pedagogical approaches: social justice and pedagogy of engagement. Dr. Jabson Tree also mentors undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students.

Education

• PhD, 2010, Oregon State University
• MPH, 2006, Oregon State University
• BS, 2000, University of Oregon

Websites

• Currently funded research

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation, Train-the-Trainer, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, Across Levels of Higher Education, Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon, 2019
• Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Summer Institute, Primary Facilitator, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2021-2023
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Fellowship, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2021-2022
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders. Seminar on Equity and Inclusion in Social Justice Research Endeavors. New Orleans, LA.,2023.

Current Courses

• PUBH 59000 - Introduction to Dissemination and Implementation Science