Marisa Shenk

Marisa Shenk’s research focuses on policies and programs to support the employment and well-being of families with low incomes, people with disabilities, older adults, and people impacted by substance use disorders.

Shenk conducts quantitative and qualitative research in several policy areas, including disability, employment and training, nutrition, and opioids. Currently, she is the deputy project director for a process evaluation of the Aging Network for the Administration for Community Living. On another project she led a continuous quality improvement task to identify, track, and report on key employment outcomes for people with disabilities who are employed by nonprofit agencies in SourceAmerica’s network. In addition, she has conducted systematic reviews for projects such as the Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research and the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse.

Before joining Mathematica in 2015, Shenk was a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, where she analyzed trends in non-employment and transitions to the labor market. This experience sparked her interest in both studying populations facing barriers to employment and helping bridge the gap between academic research and putting policy into practice. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.