Jamie Felicitas-Perkins

Jamie Felicitas-Perkins is an assistant professor of practice at Claremont Graduate University’s School of Community and Global Health (SCGH), where she serves as the director of the DrPH program. She received a bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). While at UCSC, she was trained in laboratory research as an Initiative for Maximizing Student Development fellow funded by the National Institutes of Health. She completed her MPH in Health Education and Promotion at University of Southern California, where she was inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. She went on to earn her PhD in Health Promotion Sciences with an emphasis in Public Health from SCGH. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). Her research interests include determinants of health among racially/ethnically diverse, underserved, and underrepresented populations; health disparities among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; cancer disparities and contributing factors; cancer prevention; tobacco control and prevention; tobacco-related disparities; and community-based participatory research.

Felicitas-Perkins’ passion for public health was sparked and fortified by her experiences with the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness Research and Training (AANCART), where she first started as a volunteer research assistant and in due course was mentored as a Diversity Supplement trainee funded by the National Cancer Institute’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. While with AANCART, she gained extensive experience in community-based participatory research by contributing to several research projects and initiatives aiming to reduce cancer disparities among Asian Americans. Her work includes leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot study to increase participation of Filipino cancer patients in clinical trials in Hawai`i by developing an educational DVD in two Philippine languages.

During her training at SCGH, Felicitas-Perkins published numerous peer-reviewed publications with her colleagues highlighting her research exploring health factors, outcomes, disparities, and trends among underrepresented and minority populations. Her research includes exploring the longitudinal effects of factors on general and central adiposity among Chinese adolescents, as well as examining trends and correlates in cigarette smoking behaviors among California’s priority populations and comparing findings from California to the remaining US.

Stemming from her positive mentorship experiences throughout her public health training, Felicitas-Perkins found her calling in academia. She is committed to supporting and learning from her students as an ally and to being a lifelong learner to continually evolve and grow as an educator.