Leia Carey joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a research associate in the Research-Evaluation-Learning unit in 2022. With experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, Leia combines her passions for systems change, community-engaged research, and equitable evaluation to advance the health and wellbeing of communities and build a culture of health.

Previously, Leia was a research assistant in the Environmental Medicine and Public Health department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. There, she led a community-based participatory research project aimed at designing and piloting a curriculum to educate community leaders about the core constructs of public health. Prior to that, Leia served as the program coordinator for the Culinary Arts and Food Education Preparatory Program at Columbia University. Through her development of the program’s first virtual curriculum, Leia improved the health and wellbeing of residents in Upper Manhattan through education in food preparation, nutrition, and social services.

Leia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Bard College and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.