Research & evidence strategy
Study framing, evidence synthesis, research portfolios, scientific writing, and translation of findings for decision-makers.
Health science · Global strategy · Innovation
Connecting rigorous evidence to decisions that matter.
Kathleen Morales is a multidisciplinary health scientist, epidemiologist, strategist, educator, and founder. Across more than two decades, she has led research programs, advised global institutions, translated complex evidence, and built ventures at the intersection of health and human performance.
01 / Profile
A career built across disciplines, institutions, and continents.
Kathleen brings the scientific depth of a researcher, the operating judgment of a program leader, and the narrative clarity of a communicator. Her work spans molecular immunology, infectious-disease epidemiology, vaccine policy, research operations, human physiology, resilience science, and analytics.
02 / Advisory capabilities
Where Kathleen creates value
Public-health leadership
Surveillance, vaccine policy, pandemic preparedness, multi-partner programs, and work across government and global-health systems.
Program & organizational strategy
Operating-model design, cross-functional coordination, stakeholder engagement, and direction of complex scientific initiatives.
Health innovation
Concept development, scientific positioning, market analysis, and communication for health, wellness, and human-performance ventures.
03 / Selected leadership
Evidence of scale and execution
2013—Present
Sierra Strategy Group, LLC
Founder & Principal Consultant
Independent consulting for WHO, NIH, CDC, WFP, pharmaceutical companies, clinical research networks, and hospitals—spanning policy, scientific writing, evidence work, market analysis, and strategic support.
CDC · Nairobi
Influenza Research Program
Deputy Program Director
Co-supervised an 80-person program with a $5.5 million budget, directed a national influenza surveillance network, led a vaccine-effectiveness study involving 5,000 children, and advised Kenya’s Ministry of Health during H1N1.
NIH / NIAID
International Research
Program leadership in the United States and Mali
Established NIH’s first research support office in Mali and supported African research across epidemiologic, clinical, and basic-science programs. Earlier work included malaria and vector research at NIH.
Global experience
Research, Policy & Programs
Africa, Asia, Europe & Latin America
Work has included pandemic preparedness, infectious diseases, vaccine policy, evidence review, scientific communication, and international program coordination.
04 / Current research
Studying resilience through data, physiology, and population health.
At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Kathleen’s graduate research in Kinesiology and Physical Activity Epidemiology examines allostatic load, adaptive capacity, immunological biomarkers, metabolic dysregulation, and the ways physical activity may shape physiological responses to stress.
Her work uses contemporary population datasets including NIH’s All of Us Research Program and the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, with quantitative work in R and SAS, spline modeling, OMOP structures, and genomic integration.
Current lenses
- Allostatic load
- Stress physiology
- Resilience & adaptive capacity
- Physical activity epidemiology
- Biomarkers & immunological aging
- Population and genomic data
Graduate Teaching Instructor
Human Physiology · UW–Madison
05 / Scholarship
Science communicated for action
Published work has appeared in
VaccineVaccine XClinical Infectious DiseasesBMC Infectious DiseasesJournal of Infectious DiseasesBlood
06 / Entrepreneurship
Ideas carried into the world
Functional beverage venture
wINK
Whole Integrated Nutrition Kinetics—a development-stage cultured-dairy formulation project grounded in nutrient–stress interaction science.
Visit wINK ↗Resilience & movement
Running for Resilience
A venture exploring movement, personal capacity, and the role of physical activity in supporting resilience and well-being.
Explore the venture ↗07 / Foundation
Education
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Graduate Studies, Kinesiology / Physical Activity Epidemiology · 2024—Present
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- MS, Public Health in Developing Countries (Epidemiology) · 2005
- The University of Texas at Austin
- BS, Communications; Minor, Biology · 1997
08 / Engage
Complex health and research challenges need more than one lens.
Kathleen is positioned for select consulting, advisory, executive, research-strategy, and scientific-communication engagements.
For inquiries, connect through Kathleen’s established professional channels.