Marie Heffernan, PhD

Dr. Heffernan is the Director of the Voices of Child Health in Communities, the Scientific Director for Quantitative Science at the Smith Child Health Catalyst at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She oversees the Voices of Child Health in Communities Parent Panel Survey, a biannual survey that assesses parent and family perspectives on issues related to child, adolescent, and family health and well-being. Data from the survey are disseminated in academic publications, presentations, and public reports.

Dr. Heffernan also serves on the Evaluation Core and the Climate Task Force for the Pediatric Pandemic Network, and on the Metrics Working Group for West Side United, a collaboration among healthcare, non-profit, and government partners to address health inequity on the west side of Chicago. Dr. Heffernan is a Pediatric Pandemic Network Disaster Science Research Scholar and recently received a career development award for her work examining family preparedness for the child health impacts of natural disasters. She also has been awarded funding for her work from the Family Well-Being Research Network, a program through the National Institutes of Health. She has a doctorate in social/personality psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a focus on survey methods, personality development, and relationship science.