Vladka Kovar is a board-certified preventive medicine physician and epidemiologist with a background in psychiatry and a “side” degree in art history, theory, and criticism. Vladka’s unique background allows her to conduct research and evaluation in a variety of areas including public health, behavioral health, medical education, and systems design and implementation evaluation. Vladka brings a breadth of practical theory-driven knowledge and experience to her evaluation work.

Current efforts are focused on partnering with state and local public health agencies to pilot test standardized process and evaluation measures for project monitoring and quality improvement as well as community engagement and partnership evaluation efforts.  Previously she was leading the comprehensive evaluations of the All-patient Cancer Center Expansion of Supportive Services (ACCESS) for Tobacco Cessation Treatment at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and the evaluation of the Outcomes and Developmental Data Assistance Center for EHDI Programs (ODDACE) funded by the Centers for Disease Control to expand public health capacity to gather, analyze, and use intervention and developmental outcome data of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Vladka’s professional interests stem from her extensive volunteer efforts in Africa working in health care system design and quality improvement projects as well as disease prevention and health promotion campaigns.

Before joining CEPEG, Vladka acted as a consultant for the Pediatric Injury Prevention, Education and Research Program conducting qualitative research related to mental health services, and as an assistant program director in the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. 

Vladka is originally from the Czech Republic. She loves to travel, hike in the mountains, draw, paint, and spend time with her family and friends.