Christina McDonald is Yale’s inaugural director of research development. She is responsible for building a central office that will strategically leverage resources and support the quality and quantity of large and interdisciplinary grant applications to federal sponsors to increase Yale’s research competitiveness. Prior to joining Yale in November 2023, Christina worked for thirteen years for the Open Society Foundations as a program officer championing educational transformation in former Soviet and Eastern European countries experiencing political transition. Following that she transitioned to higher education where she developed programming for a higher education non-profit providing access to higher education for African Catholic sisters, after which she directed the Office of Sponsored Projects and Research at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania for ten years. Christina holds a BA in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley, an MA in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently pursuing a doctorate in education from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.