Annalise Tolley

Annalise is a fifth-year Health Psychology doctoral candidate at UNC Charlotte with a concentration in community psychology.

As a research assistant for Charlotte Urban Institute, she serves as a strategic thought partner to local nonprofits, collaboratively building capacity for in-house data management and evaluation. She is an ecological researcher who studies how relationships across systems influence health and well-being. She strives to center the voices of those most affected by unjust systems to generate solutions with communities rather than for them. To better enact system-level change, she earned a Public Policy Research and Analysis graduate certificate while working to support the adoption of evidence-based policy locally and nationally with the Research-to-Policy Collaboration. This cultivated an interest in how national politics can both reflect and influence the health of a nation.

Tolley’s work is rooted in liberation psychology theory and draws on her experience working with organizations around the globe, including community health agencies, nonprofits and institutions of higher education. She earned a master’s degree in community psychology in 2024.