Maribel Cifuentes is a Portfolio Director at the Colorado Health Foundation, where she leads a team of program officers working to bring health in reach for all Coloradans.

Maribel believes that sustained gains in health depend largely on upstream factors such as economic development, educational opportunity, food access and security, affordable housing, and access to places and spaces that promote health – all key determinants of healthy and thriving communities. Maribel’s current focus is on advancing a portfolio of strategies related to the social determinants of health, so that every Coloradan can say we have all we need to live healthy lives.

Maribel has over two decades of experience in academia and philanthropy. For eighteen years, she was a faculty member at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where she worked in medical student education and evaluation and conducted health services research. She was the deputy director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national program, Prescription for Health – an initiative to transform how primary care clinics address behavior change to help their patients live healthier lives. She was also deputy director of the Colorado Health Foundation’s program, Advancing Care Together – an initiative to bring primary care and behavioral health services together to provide holistic and integrated care.

Maribel holds a nursing degree from the University of Colorado. She was born in Guatemala and has lived in Colorado most of her life. She lives in Denver with her husband and two adult children.