Cambridge Health Alliance Psychologist Kimberlyn Leary Selected for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship

Cambridge, Mass. – Kimberlyn Leary, PhD (University of Michigan, ’88), the chief of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), an innovative community health system serving Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston’s metro-north communities, has been selected to participate in the 2014-2015 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows program. Dr. Leary, who also serves as an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), is one of seven individuals chosen for the year-long residential fellowship in Washington, DC, and will contribute to health policy development at the federal level. She will begin her fellowship in September.

“I am delighted that Kim has received this well-deserved recognition,” said Jay Burke, MD, MPH, professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School. “This prestigious program is an outstanding opportunity for her to influence policy and connect CHA more deeply with the nation’s healthcare transformation activities.”

Dr. Leary is not new to public health policy. In addition to her roles at CHA and HMS, she currently acts as a senior policy advisor to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, where she works on policy related to neonatal abstinence syndrome, prescriber education, and non-medical use of opioids. Dr. Leary's other clinical and research specializations are on the role of race and culture in clinical treatment, supervision, and in organizations. She also focuses on interdisciplinary work at the intersection of clinical practice and conflict management, including the study of influence, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving.

Dr. Leary’s major areas of teaching, clinical activity and research are directed at enhancing effective clinical practice in psychotherapy and in negotiation and mediation. She holds degrees from Amherst College and the University of Michigan, where she was also a postdoctoral research fellow. In addition, Dr. Leary has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). In 2009, she earned a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows program is the nation’s most prestigious learning experience at the nexus of health science, policy, and politics. Exceptional midcareer health professionals and behavioral and social scientists actively participate in health policy processes at the federal level and gain exclusive, hands-on policy experience. More than 200 fellows from across the nation have participated in the program since 1973. For more information, visit www.healthpolicyfellows.org.

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. It is striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

Cambridge Health Alliance is a vital and innovative community health system that provides essential services to Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston’s metro-north communities. It includes three hospital campuses, a network of primary care and specialty practices, and the Cambridge Public Health Dept. CHA is a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate and is also affiliated with Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Tufts University School of Medicine. For more information, visit www.challiance.org.

Dr. Leary, who earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan in 1988, is chief of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.