Keri Lintz is a third-year PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare. Her research addresses structural disadvantage by examining the ways in which public policies shape early foundations for healthy lifetime outcomes. Broadly, she studies how social policies support families and attend to factors that drive disparities in early childhood.

Keri is keenly interested in the careful and purposeful application of causal inference methods to child and family policy and serves as the manager for the UCLA Practical Causal Inference Lab. She is currently engaged in studies evaluating the effects of policies and programs on family financial stability, early childhood mental health, and access to healthcare.

Keri draws on almost two decades of experience and expertise in research, public policy administration, and social service delivery. Her first professional experiences were as a child welfare consultant and crisis intervention specialist. Subsequently, she worked for state government administering five federal grant programs designed to foster child and family well-being. Before joining UCLA, she was the executive director of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy and The Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab at The University of Chicago where she gained a deep appreciation for the capacity of rigorous research to inform sound policy, programs and practice. In this role, she provided leadership in the implementation of large-scale field experiments and evaluation of promising programs dedicated to reducing social and economic inequality.