Jennifer McGee-Avila, PhD, MPH, CHES, CPH

Jennifer McGee-Avila, PhD, MPH, CHES, CPH is a post-doctoral fellow in the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program with a joint appointment in the Healthcare Delivery Research Program Health Systems and Interventions Research Branch, working with Dr. Sarah Kobrin and others in the Branch. Jennifer’s primary appointment is with the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch.

Dr. McGee-Avila is interested in descriptive epidemiology, cancer prevention in people living with HIV, and health inequities research. She is currently examining cancer risk and cancer burden in people living with HIV, using large medical claims databases and epidemiology population-based cohorts under the mentorship of Dr. Meredith Shiels, senior investigator.

Dr. McGee-Avila earned her Ph.D. in Urban Systems from an interdisciplinary program between Rutgers School of Nursing and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark. For her dissertation research, Jennifer utilized mixed methods approaches to examine multilevel contextual factors that influence cervical cancer screening among women with HIV in New Jersey Ryan White Part D clinics.

Prior to starting her CPFP Fellowship, Jennifer was a part of the inaugural cohort of the Health Policy Research Scholars supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, she is a recipient of the Alice S. Hersh Scholarship and Diversity Scholars award from Academy Health. She worked as program manager for the Rutgers School of Nursing, AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) for 11 years in Newark, NJ, working with Ryan White clinics. Jennifer grew up in Palmdale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, and attended UCLA for her undergraduate degree before pursuing her MPH and PhD at Rutgers.