Marianne McPherson, Ph.D., M.S.

Marianne McPherson, Ph.D., M.S., is dedicated to working to advance well-being, thriving, and justice for people, organizations, and communities. As Senior Director at ORS Impact, she leads applied research and evaluation work across the measurement, evaluation, and learning spectrum and in content areas ranging from health, to ending homelessness, to advancing democracy, to supporting collective impact partnerships within and outside the US. She has a passion for the messy, complex space of social innovation and systems change, and she equally values and applies both technical (head) and relational (heart) skills and practices. Her work applies diverse methods and frameworks to address complex social challenges related to improving public and population health and promoting equity.

Prior to joining ORS Impact, she was Senior Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, leading organization-wide measurement, evaluation, learning and dissemination work (including leading IHI’s Scientific Symposium and facilitating the Scientific Advisory Group) as well as the design and implementation of large-scale programs in population health and equity. Specific projects included the implementation and scale-up of the 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative, the co-development of the Well-being in the Nation Measurement Framework, a multi-site initiative to promote equitable community-based COVID response and vaccine uptake, a CDC-funded initiative to support public health professionals working in infection prevention and control, and an initiative partnering with high schools to support equitable postsecondary transitions to college and career. She also has worked at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (where she led the design and start up of the nationwide Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality), at Goodman Research Group, Inc., Ibis Reproductive Health and Our Bodies Ourselves.

Dr. McPherson received her MS in Public Health from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, her MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from Brandeis University, and her PhD in Social Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis. Outside of her work at IHI, Marianne is proud to serve on the board of Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston, MA.