Jennifer A. Pinto-Martin, Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Nursing and Executive Director of the Center for Public Health Initiatives in the School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, has agreed to serve as University Ombuds, beginning on July 1, 2020 for a two-year term, President Amy Gutmann announced. Dr. Pinto-Martin succeeds Lynn Hollen Lees. “We are grateful to Lynn who served Penn exceedingly well as Ombuds following her distinguished service as Vice Provost for Faculty,” said President Gutmann.

“Jennifer, who served as chair of the Faculty Senate from 2018 to 2019, currently serves as the Chair of its ad hoc Committee Planning for Post-Pandemic Penn. Recently named one of two inaugural Penn Nurse Innovation Fellows, Jennifer has a record of University-wide service and experience, a breadth and depth of knowledge about Penn and higher education more broadly, and excellent judgement that will be invaluable during her term as University Ombuds. I am delighted that she has agreed to serve in this important role.”

An expert on autism and developmental disabilities, Dr. Pinto-Martin served as the Director, of Penn’s Master of Public Health Program for 12 years. From 2001-2018 she also served as the Director of the Pennsylvania Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology, which is one of six CDC-funded regional centers that together are conducting the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED). She holds appointments as a Senior Scholar at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics (LDI), and the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB). 

Dr. Pinto-Martin is a member of the Scientific Review Committee, National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, American Public Health Association, Society for Epidemiological Research and the International Society for Autism Research. 

Dr. Pinto-Martin earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in epidemiology, both from the University of California.