Matina Kakalis

Matina Kakalis is a fellow and project coordinator in New America's Health Policy program. At New America, she serves as the coordinator for the 53% Initiative, which is identifying technological advances that can strengthen nutrition and improve health outcomes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Federal food assistance programs. 53% of infants in the United States are enrolled in WIC and 1 out 7 Americans participate in SNAP. Benefits of applying technology in these programs include modernizing nutrition education, streamlining outreach for recruitment and retention, improving the shopping experience, facilitating data collection and providing linkages to other Federal assistance programs. Kakalis also contributes to the work of the Health Innovations Lab that is exploring ways that technology can be used to improve health in the Digital Age. She works closely with Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal M.D., a senior fellow in Health Policy at New America, and former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General. In 2018, Kakalis graduated summa cum laudeand Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in global health.