Mithuna has over a decade of experience as a mixed-methods researcher with extensive training in applied econometrics and experimental and quasi-experimental program evaluation methods, qualitative data collection and analysis, instrument development and testing, study design and data analysis, and reporting. During her career, she has played lead roles on a range of health care, human services, and workforce development projects for federal clients such as CMS, AHRQ, ASPE, CDC, BLS, USDOL, and USDA, as well as non-federal clients such as state agencies and county local management boards, foundations, and other non-profit organizations.  Mithuna has published her research on health-related social needs and food and nutrition assistance programs and policy in several, eminent peer-reviewed journals. Her high-impact research has received media attention as well as requests for discussions from policymakers.

At NORC, Mithuna plays lead roles on several projects for ASPE that (1) evaluate the federal data infrastructure available for PCOR, (2) support the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee make recommendations for optimizing health care delivery and value-based transformation, and (3) deliver quick-turnaround research and analyses for ASPE’s Office of Science and Data Policy. For CDC, she leads an evaluation of the implementation and impacts of hypertension management-focused telehealth strategies and for CMS, is supporting the evaluation of the GPDC Model. She also plays a lead role on a project convening expert content panels to support a needs assessment for the design of a potential new cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. Mithuna has directed several projects for NASEM to support consensus reports on behavioral health and DEI, and is currently directing evaluations of food as medicine interventions for food bank clients.

Before joining NORC, Mithuna was a senior economist at IMPAQ International. At IMPAQ, she was the Monitoring Domain lead on an evaluation of a CMS Medicare Appeals Demonstration. She was the Finance Co-Domain lead on a Kidney Care Model operations contract for CMS, and on a contract for AHRQ, led a task concerned with the production of the annual National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report. She also accumulated rich experience in other policy areas through leading multiple workforce development evaluations for USDOL, leading an assessment of state and school food authority management information systems for USDA, and supporting state and local government clients on needs assessments and policy analyses. She also collaborated with non-governmental clients on research and evaluation related to food and nutrition, education, and human services (e.g., Share Our Strength; the West Health, Arnold Ventures, and AARP foundations; and the YMCA of the USA).