Tessa Heeren brings a background in social work and program evaluation to the Law Health Policy & Disability Center. Her experience in social service delivery drives her passion for informing equitable and sustainable public policy through applied research. Heeren strives to create products that are collaborative, accessible and stakeholder-centered. In her work at the LHPDC, Heeren specializes in mixed methods research to evaluate mental health and disability policies and programming.

As a Research Manager, Heeren’s roles in projects include conceptual research planning, team management, survey development, data collection and analysis, and report production.

Research areas

• Mental and behavioral health systems
• Network analysis
• Systemic inequity
• Evidence-based policy
• Qualitative methods
• Data visualization
• Social Determinants of Health
• Process evaluation