Katherine Flaherty, ScD, MA
Principal

Dr. Flaherty has more than 25 years of experience in public health, with a specific focus on maternal and child health (MCH), Medicaid, and health equity. Specific areas of expertise include: women’s reproductive health care; perinatal (maternal and infant) health services and outcomes; and systems of care, including perinatal regionalization.

Her experience has included policy and regulation development, strategic planning, program implementation, quality improvement, and research and evaluation. In addition to her consulting work, Dr. Flaherty was a Principal Associate in the Public Health and Epidemiology Practice at Abt Associates where she was the Director of the HRSA Infant Mortality Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network in 19 states, and the Co-Director of Scientific Resource Center for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Other positions held by Dr. Flaherty include: the Director of Health Access and Community Partnerships at the Partners HealthCare System where she led system-wide Medicaid work, the Director of the Perinatal and Child Health Division at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), and the Director of the Massachusetts Healthy Start Program, a prenatal insurance program, at MDPH. Dr. Flaherty also teaches an MCH Policy class at Tufts School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin and Sociology from Wellesley College, her Master of Arts degree in Medical Sociology from Boston University, and her doctoral degree in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.