Dr. Kuhlthau is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, an Associate Sociologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and MassGeneral Hospital for Children, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Kuhlthau formerly worked in the department of Statistics and Evaluation at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health where she led evaluation and surveillance efforts. She currently conducts policy and clinically relevant public health research. She received her BA from Princeton University. Her doctorate and masters degrees in sociology/demography are from the University of Michigan.

She has a strong focus in both qualitative and quantitative methods with extensive experience using existing data and in primary data collection. Much of her research focuses on three main areas: 1) health services and health policy research, 2) the well-being of parents/caregivers as it relates to child health, and 3) health related quality of life (HRQOL) for children and families.

International work includes studies of gender differences in health in Thailand, evaluating the behavioral health services in Chile and an assessment of health service use in Jordan.