Alexandra Zisser

Alexandra Zisser joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2021 as a member of the RWJF’s Research-Evaluation-Learning unit. Her work supports RWJF’s research efforts in health and health equity, including its Policies for Action initiative, which seeks to build the evidence base for policies that can improve racial equity in health and well-being in the United States. She praises the Foundation’s focus on supporting research efforts to increase the scale of impact of programs that contribute to building a Culture of Health and RWJF’s commitment to issues of data and research equity

Previously, Alexandra was a project coordinator and researcher at the London School of Economics’ LSE Cities Centre in London. In this role she conducted research into how COVID-19 and Brexit could impact social determinants of health in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. Prior to her time at LSE Cities, she served as a learning and impact fellow with the Skillman Foundation, helping to improve the lives of children in Detroit through thoughtful evaluation, organizational learning, and programmatic strategy development.

Prior to joining Skillman, Alexandra was a research and learning specialist at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, where she used qualitative and quantitative analysis, geospatial mapping, and group facilitation to promote data-driven decision-making and continuous program improvement. She also worked in workforce development at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and served as a Challenge Detroit Fellow from 2013-2014.

A native of Denver, Alexandra earned a BA in both Political Science and Spanish from the University of Southern California, and an MSc in City Design and Social Sciences from the London School of Economics, where she was awarded the Hobhouse Memorial Prize for achieving first in class classification.

Outside of work, she enjoys testing new recipes, reading food autobiographies, traveling internationally, and salsa dancing.

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