Krista Harrison, PhD

Krista Harrison, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS). Her research aims to mitigate suffering by improving models of care & policies for older adults living with, dying from, and grieving neurodegenerative diseases and other serious illnesses. She uses quantitative data to examine population-level needs and generates qualitative and mixed-methods data to inform the improvement of palliative and end-of-life care for people with dementia and care partners, particularly those who live in home and community settings.

Dr. Harrison completed her PhD in health policy and public health ethics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; postdoctoral training in aging research and implementation science at UCSF, and an Atlantic Fellowship for Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute. Before joining UCSF, Dr. Harrison was a leader within a large nonprofit community-based hospice and palliative care organization. Dr. Harrison's currently serves as co-lead of a core within the Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Center that advises scholars on primary data collection in populations of older adults.