Paula Tran

Position title: Senior Health Equity Advisor

Email: ptran@wisc.edu

Paula is a Senior Health Equity Advisor for the UW Population Health Institute.  Formerly she was the Director of UWPHI’s Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) group.  Paula’s areas of research and practice focus on topics of health equity and health equity capacity building, collective community action, power building, and health in all policies. She brings a rich background of deep community engagement and applied research, including her previous work in the following capacities:

  • Assistant Director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies
  • Transform WI Health Equity Coordinator
  • Founding Coordinator of Thrive WI (statewide health equity alliance)
  • Founding Chair of the Wisconsin Public Health Association Health Impact Assessment/ Health in All Policies Section
  • Population Health Service Fellow with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and Wisconsin Center for Health Equity

Most recently, Paula was the Health Promotion State Specialist at UW-Extension, where she supported the translation of research to meaningful and tailored practices to promote community well-being, and worked with county and state colleagues to advance efforts to promote health across the lifespan, including reducing health disparities and enhancing health equity. Paula received her BS and MPH from UW-Madison, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Civil Society and Community Research PhD program in the UW School of Human Ecology.