Leesa Lin, MSPH

Biography

Leesa holds a MSPH in Global Health and Population from the Harvard School of Public Health and a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. She manages the research and training activities for the Harvard Preparedness and Emergency Response Research and Learning Centers (H-PERRC/H-PERLC). Leesa’s research interests center around the assessment of public health systems’ emergency preparedness capabilities, emergency risk communications, needs for vulnerable and at risk populations, and population’s knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) during large-scale disasters. During the past seven years, her research activities have included conducting literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, and the design, implementation and analysis of population surveys during public health emergencies such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, 2009/2010 H1N1 pandemic, 2010 Boston Water Crisis, 2013 MERS outbreaks, and 2014 West Virginia Water Crisis, and the recent 2015 Boston snow emergencies and Cape Verde volcano eruption. She has also led other risk communication projects that analyze message formats and the role of social media in a public health emergency. On the training front, Leesa has worked on the development of case studies, workshops and seminars, and evaluation tools and online training products.