As the Associate Director of Evaluation, Leah provides leadership and strategic oversight in designing, implementing, and maintaining a framework and process for monitoring and evaluating multiple projects across NACDD.

With 20 years of public health experience, Leah started her career working with a food systems project at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She later served for seven years as Deputy Director for Bridging the Gap, a national research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation based at the University of Illinois of Chicago. Bridging the Gap focused on improving understanding of how policies and environmental factors influence diet, physical activity, obesity, and tobacco use among youth. Leah’s past evaluation roles include working in the Quality and Outcomes department of a large human service agency in Chicago and serving as the Senior Evaluator for the Building Resilient Inclusive Communities (BRIC) program within NACDD’s Center for Advancing Healthy Communities.

Leah earned her master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and her bachelor’s degree in nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and son.