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Jill Guernsey de Zapien

Jill Guernsey  de Zapien

Program Director

Health Promotion Sciences Department

dezapien@arizona.edu

1295 N. Martin Avenue
Drachman Hall A202
PO Box: 245163
Tucson AZ 85724
(520) 626-7083

Biography

Jill Guernsey de Zapien has been involved in community based public health interventions, policies and research in Arizona and throughout the Southwest and Mexico for more than thirty years. As co-investigator of numerous initiatives that focused on underserved populations in the southwest and northern Mexico, Ms. de Zapien collaborated across the university to work directly with communities to develop strategies for prevention interventions and the elimination of health disparities. She is particularly proud of her collaborative work with the promotora movement throughout the border region, her long-term commitment to community based participatory research and action, her binational collaborations in the border region and her work to improve the quality of life for farmworkers in the United States and Mexico. . She is a co-author of over 60 publications and reports and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work from universities and organizations in the United States and Mexico. Ms. de Zapien previously served as the Associate Dean for Community Programs at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health for 16 years.

Education:

1964, BA, Sociology and Anthropology, Antioch College

Publications:

Giuliano A, Denman C, de Zapien J, Navarro JL, Ortega L, Djambazov B, Mendez Brown E, Moncada E, Hatch K, "Design and Results of the US-Mexico Border Human Papilloma Virus, Cervical Dysplasia, and Chlamydia Trachomatis Study," Pan American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp 172-181, March 2001

­Meister J, Giuliano AR, Saltzman S, Abrahamson M, Stephan J, de la Ossa E, Guerra N, Pappenfuss M, de Zapien J, "Community Health Worker at the US-Mexico Border: Effectiveness of a Cancer Prevention/Education Intervention," Women and Cancer; Vol. 1, Issue 5, pp 25-33, Winter 1999/2000

Denman C, de Zapien J, Coe K, Henze J, Giuliano A, Stephan J, Ortega L., Djambazov B, Mendez E, Moncada E, Feng J, Hatch K, "The Problem of Invasive Cervical Cancer along the US-Sonora Border: Planning and Implementation of a Bi-national Research Project," Women and Cancer. Vol. 1, Issue 5, pp 45-50.

Languages Spoken:

Spanish, English

Research Synopsis

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.). de Zapien has served as the facilitator for two large binational research initiatives on diabetes and cancer involving participants from academic institutions, public health and community-based organizations and private providers. As co-investigator of the Southwest Center for Community Health Promotion, the Border Health Strategic Initiative, the Reach 2010 Project, and the Center for Health Equality, de Zapien continues to work directly with communities in the Southwest to develop strategies for prevention and control of chronic disease.

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