Sara Schmitt
Interim President & CEO
Sara Schmitt assumed the role of Interim President and CEO of the Colorado Health Institute in July 2022, after more than a decade in progressive leadership roles with the organization. She oversees overall strategy and operations of the $6 million consultancy and directs the work of approximately 30 directors, program managers, and analysts.
Most recently, Sara served as Managing Director of Research, Evaluation, and Consulting, supporting the development and execution of all the work we do at CHI. She provided strategic support and facilitation for the Metro Denver Partnership for Health (MDPH), a multisector collaboration to advance health in the metro Denver area. She also led CHI’s work on the Colorado Health Observation Regional Data Service (CHORDS), a network of health and public health partners working together to use electronic health record data to support public health monitoring and evaluation. She facilitated CHORDS governance activities and oversaw network development and expansion.
In 2021, Sara led CHI's work with the Office of eHealth Innovation and the eHealth Commission to update the Colorado Health Information Technology (IT) Roadmap.
Before joining CHI, Sara was a policy analyst at the Colorado Rural Health Center, the state office of rural health, and recruited physicians and other medical professionals for clinics and hospitals in Colorado’s rural and underserved regions. She spent several years in managed care and program development at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She also has worked in policy advocacy and provided supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Sara earned a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University and a master’s degree in health administration and policy from the University of Chicago.
Sample Projects:
- Colorado Health IT Roadmap
- The Anti-Hunger Community Toolkit
- The Value of Partnership: How Colorado's Co-Responder Programs Enhance Access to Behavioral Health Care
- Telemedicine research
- Colorado Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Needs Assessment
Skills: Facilitation and convening, evaluation, data and information governance, needs assessment.
Focus Areas:
- Multisector collaboration
- Public health and prevention
- Health information technology
I Do This Work Because… Every one of us has had an experience related to health that has changed our lives, or the lives of those around us. I work to inform and advance sound health policy so that I may stay connected with those experiences and shape the ones yet to come.