Kyeen Mesesan Andersson

Kyeen Mesesan Andersson (Ky) specializes in international public health policy and brings with her a wide variety of experience in public health research, international field work, data collection and management of study teams, as well as medicine, patient care and laboratory research.

Ky received her Sc.B. in Biology from Brown University in 1995. Prior to graduate study, she conducted laboratory research in virology and clinical fieldwork internationally as an Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. In 1999, Ky moved to New Haven and began the Medical Scientist Training Program at Yale University School of Medicine. Her doctoral research considered the use of partially-effective HIV prevention programs and potential risk behavior change in sub-Saharan Africa and was multi-disciplinary in nature, involving mathematical modeling and behavioral epidemiology. During this time, she lived and worked in South Africa for three years (where she also met her future husband!). After receiving her M.D. & Ph.D. from Yale, she continued as a post-doctoral fellow, expanding the scope of her research to examine gender disparities in public health program outcomes. Most recently, Ky was a Senior Modeler and Policy Analyst at Futures Institute (now Avenir Health), where she conducted research on global public health prevention and treatment programs.

Ky is thrilled to join the Common Ground Board and to help spread her love of organic farming and sustainable living in their community. She and her husband Rich live in the greater New Haven area with their two daughters, who adore Common Ground’s Ecology Summer Camp.