About Me

Short Biography

My name is Tran T. Doan, PhD, MPH (she-her) and I was born in Southern California and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I received a PhD in Health Services Organization and Policy with a concentration in Operations Research and Decision Science. Recognizing my privileges and all the opportunities and comforts that come along with it, I am deeply motivated to give back and do more. I am constantly curious and rooted in community and service. I lived in California, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Michigan, and Colorado (in that order). I currently reside in Denver, Colorado.

Professional Biography

My name is Tran T. Doan, PhD, MPH (she-her) and I work as an Assistant Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. My research uses decision science tools—including cost-effectiveness analysis, discrete choice experiments, and mixed methods research—to support complex medical decision-making that are evidence-based and patient-centered. I am particularly interested to explore how adolescents, for whom data collection has been historically challenging, make decisions about seeking confidential and culturally competent mental health services.

I completed a T32 Post-Doctoral Primary Care Research Fellowship in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to deepen my knowledge on telehealth integration, family-centered care, and language barriers. I received a Doctorate of Philosophy in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. My doctorate was fully funded by the Health Policy Research Scholars program with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Rackham Merit Fellowship with the University of Michigan, among others. 

I received a Master of Public Health in Infectious Disease and Microbiology and a Global Health Certificate from the University of Pittsburgh. I also received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with honors from the University of Richmond.

In between degrees, I worked for AIDS United, a national HIV nonprofit based in Washington DC on the Policy and Advocacy team, and for Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti, a rural Haiti nonprofit hospital on the Development & Fundraising team. I was born in California and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the first to graduate from sixth grade. I am also a documentary narrator and yoga-certified instructor, both of which focus on collective healing from intergenerational trauma.