Kriston is a senior research director in NORC’s Health Sciences department with nearly 20 years of survey research and project development experience, focusing on the areas of biospecimen collection, implementation science, and multi-mode data collection. Kriston contributes to numerous aspects of survey research operations, including sample selection, questionnaire development and testing, data collection processes, data delivery, and project management.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kriston served as the project director for the University of Chicago’s COVID-19 Serosurvey study (Chicago RECOVER) and associate project director for the Minnesota COVID-19 Serosurvey study (MCAS), leading multiple rounds in each measuring the prevalence of COVID-19 throughout the community. Kriston is currently the biospecimen task lead for the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72) examining cognitive outcomes later in life through biomarker data, cognitive testing, and MRI imaging. Kriston is also the project manager for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Safety Program for Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Prevention promoting new evidence-based approaches to preventing HAI infections across U.S. hospitals.

Prior to NORC, Kriston served as a research coordinator in South Dakota State University’s Ethel Austin Martin Program (E. A. Martin) conducting both state and federal studies such as the National Children’s Study (NCS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) South Dakota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, and the South Dakota Rural Bone Health Study.