Kathryn G. Kietzman, PhD, MSW, is the director of the Health Equity Program and senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She is also an associate researcher in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her research agenda focuses primarily on the long-term health and social care needs of physically, socially, and financially vulnerable populations, including older adults and people with disabilities who rely on public programs and other informal supports to maintain their independence.

Kietzman currently leads a California Health Interview Survey study to assess population-level need for, and access to, long-term services and supports in California. Other recent studies include an evaluation of how older adults with serious mental illness are served through California’s public mental health delivery system, and an investigation of how dual eligible health care consumers (i.e., those insured by both Medicare and Medi-Cal) access and use information to make decisions about their health care options. Kietzman also recently evaluated efforts to increase the use of clinical preventive services among the underserved 50+ population in South Los Angeles through multi-sectoral collaboration and enhanced linkages between community and clinical settings.

Prior to joining the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Kietzman was a Health and Aging Policy Fellow in the office of United States Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. A former member of the Board of Directors for the American Society on Aging, Kietzman currently serves on the Executive Board of the Center for Health Care Rights (the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program for the City and County of Los Angeles), is a member of the Commission for the Senior Community in the City of Santa Monica, and a member of the California Master Plan for Aging Research Subcommittee.

Kietzman earned her doctorate in social welfare from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs where her dissertation research was supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She completed both bachelor and master degrees in social welfare at UC Berkeley.​