Kirsten is a CIHR Health System Impact Fellow with Global Food System & Policy Research in the School of Global Health at York University and at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Her research integrates systems thinking to generate evidence on the role of food and nutrition policy and interventions in supporting healthy and sustainable eating patterns. At PHAC, she is developing a national-level surveillance framework of food environments and food systems in Canada. 

As part of her current post, she is a Research Coordinator for an investigation on governance responses toward emergent pandemic zoonoses. Kirsten completed her PhD in Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo. Her doctoral research investigated the potential for interventions, such as menu calorie labelling, to support healthy and sustainable eating patterns among post-secondary students.