Jessica Collins has dedicated her career to collaborative efforts that build equitable communities and sustain programmatic, policy and infrastructure change that supports quality of life. Ms. Collins is the Executive Director of the Public Health Institute of Western MA which does research assessment, evaluation, and convening of initiatives that address health inequities that stem from racist and unjust systems and policies.  Ms. Collins was recently appointed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Behavioral Health Commission and also served on Governor Baker’s Special Commission on Behavioral Health Promotion and Upstream Prevention in 2017; Ms. Collins served as the Co-Director of the BeHealthy Partnership, the ACO made up of Health New England, Baystate Health, and Caring Health Center (2018-2023).  She was awarded the BusinessWest "Women of Impact" award in 2021. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Human Service Forum and was elected to the South Hadley Board of Health (2017-2024).  She was President of the MA Public Health Association (2017-2019). Before moving to Western MA, Ms. Collins led the nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention effort "Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard." Ms. Collins has a master's degree in Food Policy from Tufts University and is a proud graduate of Wellesley College.

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