Our Team

She is widely recognized for her leadership role in building an interdisciplinary field of scholarship on research use in policy and practice, expanding research-practice partnerships, and supporting a broader movement to democratize evidence. She regularly speaks to international and domestic audiences on equity-centered and evidence-informed policy and practice. Her research on racial, cultural, and immigration influences on child development have been published in Child Development and the American Psychologist and her research on promoting social change through research and philanthropy have appeared in the American Journal of Community Psychology and Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Dr. Tseng’s career reflects an abiding commitment to racial equity. She has fostered greater equity in grantmaking, developed funding programs to support researchers of color and nonprofit leaders from racially minoritized and LGBTQ communities, and mentored countless junior colleagues throughout her career.

Dr. Tseng received her Ph.D. from NYU and her B.A. from UCLA and serves on the Boards of Data Quality Campaign, Grantmakers for Education, and Sobrato Early Academic Learning (SEAL). She formerly served on the Boards of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, the Coalition of Asian American Children and Families, the Forum for Youth Investment, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, and the Federation of Associations in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She is co-founder of the Impact Funders Forum (formerly Transforming Evidence Funders Network) and the Learning Community on Using Evidence for Change (affectionately called the Nerd Herd). Close.

Prior to joining the Foundation in late 2025, Dr. Temkin Cahill served as the Chief Research Officer (CRO) at Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization of over 250 staff, where she spent nearly 12 years in both research and administrative roles. Over her tenure at Child Trends, Dr. Temkin Cahill served as the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI of 19 projects focused on improving healthy schools, including co-leading the policy analysis and development arm of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Together for Healthy and Successful Schools Initiative.

She has frequently been called upon to provide her expertise on healthy schools, including through testimony to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and through media interviews with The Washington Post, Politico, CNN, Education Week, U.S. News and World Report, USA Today, the 74 Million, and other publications. In her role as CRO, Dr. Temkin Cahill oversaw core operations functions including information technology, cybersecurity, business development, quality control, research ethics, and Child Trends’ institutional review board.

Prior to Child Trends, Dr. Temkin Cahill led the Federal Initiative on Bullying Prevention at the U.S. Department of Education and was a finalist for the 2012 Call to Service Medal of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals.

Dr. Temkin Cahill holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies and an M.S. in Education Theory and Policy from the Pennsylvania State University and completed a certificate in Non-Profit Leadership and Management at the University of Maryland, College Park. Close.