Stacey McKenna
Associate Director and Resident Senior Fellow, Healthier Communities
About Stacey
Stacey McKenna leads R Street’s behavioral health portfolio and helps coordinate research and outreach across the Healthier Communities policy area. Her research and writing focus on how policy shapes the risks associated with substance use and how smarter government and free-market tools can help mitigate those risks.
Prior to joining R Street, Stacey worked as a freelance science journalist and research consultant covering issues related to homelessness, substance use, HIV prevention and treatment, and community health in Malawi, New York, and Colorado. She previously served as a research assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) and as an adjunct instructor in public health and anthropology for CU Denver and the Metropolitan State University of Denver. As co-investigator on a National Institutes of Health grant, she examined the intersection of drug acquisition and survival strategies among a network of individuals who used methamphetamine.
Stacey holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles; a master’s degree in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University; and a PhD in health and behavioral sciences from CU Denver. She currently lives in Mexico City, where she spends her free time drinking coffee, taking epic walks, and snuggling with Augustus, her giant-headed pittie.
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