Kirsten is the Senior Research and Policy Associate for CityHealth. They are passionate about understanding how structural changes can improve health and using evidence to advance policies that promote health. Kirsten holds a PhD in Social and Behavioral Interventions from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where they focused on how policy impacts the mental well-being of marginalized populations. Previously, Kirsten worked as a research program manager at the MIT Sloan School of Management and as a Research Associate for the Research Program on Children and Adversity, based in Kigali, Rwanda. Throughout their career, Kirsten has bridged research and practice, with a focus on translating rigorous research for a range of audiences. Kirsten earned a Master of Social Work from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Brigham Young University.