MacKenzie is a psychologist who studies individual differences and contextual changes associated with physical health, cognitive function, and well-being across the lifespan. To advance knowledge in these areas, she uses cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intensive measurement designs as well as statistical techniques for examining change and intraindividual variability. Her projects use ecological momentary assessment and daily diary designs to repeatedly assess daily experiences (e.g., psychological states, stressor exposure) in real-time within individuals’ natural environments. Her subject areas of expertise include lifespan development and cognitive aging, lifestyle and behavioral interventions to optimize cognitive function, and age-related change in stress and well-being.

At NORC, MacKenzie supports projects focused on improving health care quality while lowering costs. She provides technical assistance support to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health. For NORC’s Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) support contract with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), MacKenzie provides analytics support for regular PTAC learning sessions exploring topics related to modernizing traditional fee-for-service reimbursement for care. For example, she supported learning sessions focused on addressing the needs of patients with complex chronic conditions or serious illnesses in population-based total cost of care (PB-TCOC) models, developing and implementing performance measures for PB-TCOC models, improving care transition management within PB-TCOC models, and integrating specialty care in PB-TCOC models.

Prior to joining NORC, MacKenzie worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington where she supported projects focused on implementing and disseminating evidence-based practices for adults with serious mental illness. She also worked in the School of Psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she designed and coordinated memory intervention studies including a randomized controlled trial funded by the National Institute on Aging. Her research also focused on understanding age differences in the impact of daily stressor exposure on key stress hormones, memory, and psychological well-being. She also completed an internship in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she supported a project funded by the National Cancer Institute that examined the impact of using culturally tailored inoculation messaging on resistance to tobacco marketing among young adults.