Kristi McClamroch, PhD, MPH, is an infectious disease epidemiologist, public health strategist, and storyteller with three decades of experience leading research, programs, and people across academic, nonprofit, and government settings. She is the founder and CEO of Courageous Public Health, LLC, a consulting practice focused on strengthening courageous leadership among women in public health in complex and imperfect systems.

Dr. McClamroch’s journey through public health is rooted in both scientific expertise and lived experience. She earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MPH and BS in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. Over the course of her career, she has worked as a university professor, epidemiologist, program evaluator, youth development director, technical writer, and executive director. Her research has spanned global HIV/AIDS surveillance, adolescent sexual health, and equity-driven public health initiatives in underserved communities. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, served as a principal investigator on community-based grants, and mentored emerging public health professionals throughout her career.

In 2024, Dr. McClamroch launched Courageous Public Health to address a pattern she observed repeatedly in the field: women were leading through fear, constraint, and ethical strain every day, yet rarely naming their actions as courage or receiving support for the emotional and relational labor required to lead well. Today, her work centers facilitated, interactive virtual workshops that help leaders recognize, practice, and intentionally use courage as a leadership capacity.

Dr. McClamroch is also the host of the Courageous Public Health Podcast, where she interviews women doing the work of public health whose stories reveal how courage shows up in real-world leadership. These conversations form the foundation of her workshop framework and reflect her belief that public health leadership is personal—and that courage is not fearlessness, but the decision to act with fear present, guided by purpose rather than pressure.

In addition to her consulting and podcast work, Dr. McClamroch is writing her first book, a memoir that weaves together personal narrative about her family history shaped by cumulative patterns of survival and adaptation, and public health insight. Across her work, she is guided by a commitment to courage, liberation, connection, and care—and by a belief that public health is strongest when leaders are supported to lead with clarity and integrity.