Leah Gjertson

About Leah Gjertson

Dr. Leah Gjertson is a Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall at University of Chicago and lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy. She conducts applied research that aims to promote family economic security and to improve outcomes for children and youth served by public programs. Her current portfolio includes projects that examines program and policy issues in early care and education, an experimental program evaluation of Chicago-based college and career success program, and efforts to support states to better use and analyze their public program data. Gjertson has experience with administrative data analysis, survey research, and experimental program evaluation. Each project is grounded in the belief that generating research findings with relevance for policy and practice requires strong collaboration with agency partners and stakeholders.

Prior work experience includes the Center for Financial Security and the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she conducted research as a graduate student relating to child welfare and foster care as well as household economic security. She was a Program and Policy Analyst with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, working in areas including administrative data quality, DNA collection, revocation, and earned release. Before that, she worked in the child welfare court system as a law clerk with the Middleton Center for Children’s Rights and the Iowa Office of the Attorney General Human Services Division. Gjertson holds a PhD in Social Welfare and a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School.