Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz, Ph.D.

Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz
Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz, Ph.D.
Social and Behavioral Scientist Administrator
Email: kristin.brethel-haurwitz@nih.gov

Brief Biography

Dr. Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz joined the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) as a social and behavioral scientist administrator in February 2021. In this role, she supports the OBSSR mission to enhance the impact of health-related behavioral and social sciences research, coordinate and integrate these sciences within the larger NIH research enterprise, and communicate health-related behavioral and social sciences research findings. Dr. Brethel-Haurwitz’s areas of focus are social processes and contexts that affect health-related behavior and outcomes, and relevant intersections with neuroscience. Dr. Brethel-Haurwitz is a cognitive neuroscientist and social psychologist with expertise in empathy and social decision-making and experimental research methods ranging from surveys and laboratory behavioral tasks to noninvasive human brain imaging and stimulation. Prior to OBSSR, Dr. Brethel-Haurwitz was a National Institute of Mental Health Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, studying the role of empathic processes in social decision-making using behavioral and cognitive neuroscience methods, including transcranial magnetic stimulation. Dr. Brethel-Haurwitz earned a Ph.D. in psychology with a concentration in lifespan cognitive neuroscience from Georgetown University, where she studied emotional processing in altruistic kidney donors using behavioral tasks and functional magnetic resonance imaging.