Kristi Ressel, MPH, is a PhD candidate in Public Affairs at the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. Her research examines how policy change and workforce innovation reshape healthcare delivery in the United States, with particular attention to scope-of-practice policy, patient decision-making, and healthcare access.

Her dissertation, Redefining Care: The Impact of Policy Shifts and Provider Evolution on American Healthcare, explores the evolving healthcare workforce through a mixed-methods approach that combines legal epidemiology, qualitative interviews, and a conjoint survey experiment. More broadly, her research interests include health politics and policy, health workforce policy, policy implementation, health services research, and program evaluation.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Kristi served as a Senior Research Analyst at the University of Missouri's Institute of Public Policy, where she led and supported federally funded evaluations of public health and health care initiatives. Her work has been published in The American Journal of Managed Care and Professional Case Management and presented at national conferences, including the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the American Evaluation Association, and the American Political Science Association.

Outside of work, Kristi is a proud dog mom to Maple and Mocha. She worked to train and certify Mocha as a dental therapy dog and can often be found helping patients feel at ease at Broadway Dental, a local dental office she co-owns with her husband.