Kimberlyn Rachael Leary, PhD, MPA

Biography

Kimberlyn Leary, executive vice president at the Urban Institute, works with Urban’s president, Sarah Rosen Wartell, to enhance Urban's impact and forge new partnerships. Previously, Leary was Urban’s senior vice president for research management and program development.

Before joining Urban, Leary held full-time academic roles at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she directed the Enabling Change program. She led the Center of Excellence in Women's Mental Health at McLean Hospital as its first executive director and was chief psychologist at Cambridge Health Alliance. Her career began at the University of Michigan.

Leary has advised the White House under President Obama and President Biden. She was an adviser to the Obama White House Council on Women and Girls and a senior policy adviser to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. During the Biden-Harris transition, Leary was a part-time volunteer member on the agency review team for that office. At the Biden White House, on IPA assignment from Urban, she was the first senior equity fellow at the Office of Management and Budget and a senior adviser to the Domestic Policy Council.

Additionally, Leary is an award-winning educator and writer, focusing on government innovation, adaptive leadership, collaboration, and equity. She holds an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She also has advanced training as a psychoanalyst from the Michigan Psychoanalytic Association.

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