Kimberlyn R. Leary, PhD, MPA

Dr. Kimberlyn Leary is a senior vice president of research management and program development. She comes to Urban from Harvard University, where she is an associate professor of psychology at 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 was a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She directed the Enabling Change program for the Doctor of Public Health program at Harvard Chan and served as executive director of the Center of Excellence in Women’s Mental Health at McLean. Previously, she was chief psychologist at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

Dr. Leary was an advisor to the Obama White House launching the Advancing Equity initiative for the Council on Women and Girls. She was also an advisor to the health division at White House Office of Management and Budget and senior policy advisor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Leary served on the Biden-Harris transition team as a volunteer part-time member of the Agency Review Team for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Most recently, Leary completed a one-year IPA with the Biden White House, serving as a senior equity fellow for the Office of Management and Budget and as a senior policy advisor to the Domestic Policy Council.

Dr. Leary writes, consults, and teaches on adaptive leadership, leading teams, cross-boundary collaboration, negotiation, and conflict transformation, working with mayors and senior executives in the private and public sector. She holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan; she has completed advanced training and is also a clinical psychoanalyst.