Kimberlyn Rachael Leary, PhD, MPA

Kimberlyn Leary began her career as a clinical psychologist working as a practitioner to improve access to diverse communities. Her early work on negotiated transactions in psychotherapy expanded to broader research on negotiation, conflict transformation, and change management. She is an associate professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she is co-faculty director of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative’s Research and Curriculum Program. Leary served as an adviser to the Obama White House from 2014-2016, working with the White House Council on Women and Girls to develop the Advancing Equity initiative (which focused on improving life outcomes for women and girls of color). Leary served on the Biden-Harris transition as a member of the Agency Review Team for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and is currently on an Intergovernmental Personnel Act with the Office of Management and Budget serving as a Senior Equity Fellow. She is also a Senior Vice President at the Urban Institute.