MacKenzie is a senior research scientist 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 has supported multiple projects for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including the evaluation of the ACO REACH Model for the CMS Innovation Center. She previously provided technical assistance support focused on optimizing health outcomes for the 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 a learning session focused on improving care transition management within population-based total cost of care models and co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles on the associations between transitional care management and quality and cost outcomes.

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 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.