Dr. Anna Kharmats joined the ODP in June 2022 as a Health Science Policy Analyst. Dr. Kharmats provides project management and analytical support to the Advancing Prevention Research for Health Equity (ADVANCE) initiative. ADVANCE seeks to strengthen research testing preventative interventions that address leading causes of death in populations experiencing health disparities.

Prior to joining the ODP, Dr. Kharmats’ research focused on obesity and cardiovascular disease prevention, health disparities, food security, and geospatial food access. Dr. Kharmats has experience in all phases of the research process related to the design and evaluation of public health interventions, including quantitative and qualitative process and outcomes evaluation.

Dr. Kharmats earned a Bachelor of Science in human development and family studies, and Master of Arts in developmental psychology from Cornell University. Subsequently, she served a year in the AmeriCorps VISTA program helping a mental health department of a federally-qualified community health center transition to the use of electronic medical records. Dr. Kharmats completed her doctoral training in social and behavioral interventions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and postdoctoral training in behavioral and cardiovascular health research at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in the Department of Population Health and the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity.