Bio
Dr. Lindsey Leininger specializes in data-driven health policy, with a focus on the health care safety net and community health. She has a longstanding interest in publicly funded health insurance programs, with related research spanning quality measurement, risk segmentation, and program evaluation. Her community health work focuses on health education and promotion initiatives. Highlights include leading an award-winning crisis communication campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic; designing and delivering a nationally recognized curriculum for public benefits navigators; and leading the data and research efforts for a home-visiting program for high-risk pregnant women in Wisconsin. At Tuck she teaches courses on data-driven decision-making in the health sector. She also serves as Faculty Director for the Center for Health Care. Prior to Tuck, Lindsey spent a decade designing and leading research and technical assistance projects for Medicaid agencies, both as an academic and as a think-tank researcher. She holds a PhD in health policy from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
Current Research Topics
- Health care safety net: Quality measurement
- Community health: Fighting medical misinformation; community-based behavioral health programs
Professional Activities
Academic positions
- Faculty Director, Center for Health Care, Tuck School of Business, 2023 – present
- Clinical Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business, 2018 – present
- Assistant Professor and Research Assistant Professor, University of Illinois-Chicago, 2012–15
- Researcher, Chapin Hill at the University of Chicago, 2010–12
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008–10
- Postdoctoral Scholar, Center for Human Potential and Public Policy, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, 2007–08
Nonacademic positions
- Associate Director and Senior Health Researcher, Mathematica Policy Research, University of Chicago, 2015–18
Board memberships
- Board of trustees member, Crossroads Academy, Lyme NH. 2023 – current
- Board member, co-founder, inaugural CEO. Those Nerdy Girls/Dear Pandemic science translation platform. 2020 – current
- Secretary and Executive Committee Member, Interdisciplinary Association of Population Health Science. 2015–2018.
Selected Publications
- With E. Meara and M. Tomaino. “Health-Related Quality of Life in High-Cost, High-Need Populations.” American Journal of Managed Care. 2023. 29(7), online.
- With Those Nerdy Girls. “Fight Like a Nerdy Girl: The Dear Pandemic Playbook for Combating Health Misinformation.” American Journal of Health Promotion. 2022. 36(3): 563-567.
- Winner, Editor-in-Chief Award (2022)
- With S. Orzol, M. Levere, and N. Early, “Contemporaneous and Long-Term Effects of CHIP Eligibility Expansion.” Journal of Health Economics, 64: 80-92, 2019
- With B. Saloner and L. Wherry, “Predicting High-Cost Pediatric Patients: Derivation and Validation of a Population-Based Model,” Medical Care, 53(8), 2015