Staff Member

Kristen Quinlan, Ph.D. (she/her) is a Senior Research Scientist at the Education Development Center, where she serves as a Senior Research Advisor for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.  In this role, she supports the Progress, Accountability, and Data Advisory Group, which is working to develop and launch a framework for tracking progress on the National Strategy and to support the implementation of Action Alliance accountability measures. 

Working closely with the federal government’s Interagency Workgroup and the Behavioral Health Coordinating Committee for Suicide Prevention and Crisis Care, Dr. Quinlan is currently drafting the National Strategy’s Theory of Change Framework. This role demands proficiency in developing complex, nested logic models that reflect the functioning of a national system, a comprehensive understanding of the landscape of suicide prevention across the nation, effective leadership in engaging cross-agency and cross-sector partners, and a strong familiarity with HHS and other national surveillance systems.  

Together with Colorado, the CDC and SAMHSA partners, Dr. Quinlan co-developed the Colorado National Collaborative (CNC), which is widely recognized as the flagship model for CDC’s comprehensive suicide prevention program. The CNC is a collaborative model of suicide prevention that employs a constellation of upstream and downstream prevention efforts with the aim of reducing suicide in participating counties by 20% by 2025. Under her leadership and the leadership of state agency partners, the CNC recently conducted a feasibility study to articulate the acceptability, practicality, and early efficacy of the model to inform opportunities for scale-up.

Throughout her career, Dr. Quinlan has been dedicated to enhancing evaluation capacity within grassroots agencies, communities, and states. As the Director of Evaluation for the SAMHSA-funded Suicide Prevention Technical Assistance Center (SPTAC), she evaluates the operational effectiveness of the national center and supports grantees in their evaluation-related needs.

Dr. Quinlan is deeply committed to injury control and prevention, co-founding the Intersectional Council Workgroup for Suicide Prevention in the American Public Health Association. This initiative aims to engage all 32 member sections in promoting the importance of public health approaches to suicide and violence prevention.

Dr. Quinlan received her Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in Behavioral Science in 2006, with a focus on Research Methods. She has served as adjunct faculty for the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, teaching in the Psychology and Women’s Studies Departments. She has over 15 years of experience in working in public health.