Cathy J. Bradley

Cathy J. Bradley, PhD, is Dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and Deputy Director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. A health economist, she holds the Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Dr. Bradley was the founding Chair of the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Dr. Bradley earned her bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University and her Master of Public Administration and PhD in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health.

Her research focuses on the intersection of work, health insurance and cancer, examining how individuals and families navigate employment decisions when faced with costly and complex cancer treatment. Much of her work explores why many patients remain employed to maintain employer-based health insurance despite significant treatment and recovery needs, and how these choices affect caregivers and household financial stability. Within this scope, Dr. Bradley emphasizes policies aimed at reducing health disparities and financial burden for populations facing these difficult trade-offs. She is also an expert in Medicaid policy and the use of large administrative datasets to study health disparities.

Since 1998, Dr. Bradley has been continuously funded as a principal investigator by the National Institutes of Health and has received additional support from the American Cancer Society, the Commonwealth Fund, and other state and international agencies. She has served on national advisory committees, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine National Cancer Policy Forum, and currently serves on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Methods Committee. Dr. Bradley has received numerous honors recognizing her leadership, scholarship and contributions to health policy research.