Biography
& Academic Interests
Health promotion/health behavior; health systems and policy; community engagement; behavioral health; health system and co-extension partnerships
Allison is the Associate Dean for Extension and Engagement within the College of Health (2022-present), and in that role also serves as program leader for Extension Family and Community Health (FCH) (2021-present).
As FCH program leader, Allison oversees statewide health extension programming including SNAP-Ed nutrition, physical activity and gardening; Coast to Forest behavioral health promotion; food systems, security and safety efforts; disaster preparedness interventions and more. During the Oregon 2023 legislative session, Allison partnered with a broad coalition towards the successful passage of Senate Bill 955, and implementation of the free and confidential crisis line for the agriculture and natural resource communities, AgriStress Helpline© for Oregon.
Allison began work at Oregon State University in Fall 2018 as the first full-time director of the Oregon State University Center for Health Innovation (OCHI) which connects external organizations and Oregon State University faculty in the discovery of innovative solutions to pressing health and wellness issues and builds workforce capacity in public health and human sciences. Prior to her work at Oregon State, in 2017-2018, Allison served as a Health Policy Fellow to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. From 2011-2017, Allison co-founded and led Counter Tools, a non-profit technology startup dedicated to advancing place-based public health through Citizen Science, data visualization, and policy advocacy. Early in her career (2005-2011) she led market research and strategy development for health and healthcare organizations at Innovation Management, LLC.
Allison earned her BS in environmental resource management from Pennsylvania State University and her MPH and PhD in health behavior from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon from 2000-2002.
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