Dr. Dickson joined K&A in 2008 after an academic career in public health research. In her role, she oversees the collection and analysis of survey and interview data in K&A’s many strategic planning and assessment projects and collaborates with senior consultants and the project teams to ensure high quality in our proposals, reports, and presentations. In addition, Jen brings her public health expertise to K&A’s work in helping institutions respond and reopen during the pandemic.

Jen was on the faculty of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York until 2009; she taught courses on research methods and consulted on various research projects in the Department of Narrative Medicine at Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. Her research at Mailman included a number of qualitative studies looking at disparities in health outcomes along socioeconomic and geographic lines, including: the needs of minority women living with HIV/AIDS in American cities; the consequences of urban renewal on inner-city populations; community based recovery from upheaval post 9/11; and community building and empowerment of families struggling with HIV/AIDS and substance abuse. In 2007, Jen edited and published her late husband’s memoir, Leukemia for Chickens, which recounts their experiences living with cancer.

Jen received her Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in 1995, and her master’s and doctorate in public health from the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia in 1999 and 2002, respectively. She lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC with her husband, son, and Italian spinone, where they sell local, natural, and humanely-raised meats from their butcher shop and are big fans of their public school.

• Health, Counseling, and Well-being
• Research Methodology
• Strategic & Sustainability Planning