Katherine Beckmann is the national policy director at the Packard Foundation and leads efforts to protect and advance U.S. policies and systems that support the health, well-being, early learning, and economic opportunity of young children and their families. She is particularly interested in the intersection of child development, disease prevention, and health promotion to better prepare young children for lifelong education.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Beckmann served as the Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood Health in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services where she coordinated, integrated, and implemented early childhood health and development policies and initiatives across Head Start, child care, Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, and Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting programs.

Dr. Beckmann received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with Distinction at Columbia University where her research focused on social and environmental risk factors leading to toxic stress during pregnancy and cognitive outcomes in preschoolers. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Public Health in health policy and administration at Yale University.