Jennifer Wessel, JD, MPH is ACHI’s director of health policy and data privacy officer. She focuses on health policy initiatives related to the advancement of community health and wellness and the collection of health data reported under the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative. Her work also supports healthcare workforce analyses to inform efforts to improve access to care statewide.
Wessel chairs the Arkansas Child Health Advisory Committee and leads efforts to address childhood obesity and promote healthy school environments. She has played key roles in several earlier statewide initiatives, including serving as a member of former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Food Desert Working Group and as one of the leaders of the Arkansas Department of Health’s Healthy Active Arkansas program, where she helped guide strategies to increase the percentage of Arkansans maintaining a healthy weight.
Wessel received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Arkansas. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.