Kimberlyn Leary

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 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) and in the Public Health Branch of the Office of Management and Budget. Leary served on the Biden-Harris transition as a member of the Agency Review Team for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. She is a Senior Vice President at the Urban Institute.