Dr. Kearney serves as the Secretary’s Senior Advisor for Health, ensuring implementation of VA’s top priorities in healthcare through coordination with executive leadership across the enterprise and daily coordination with other federal agencies and the White House in healthcare policy development and execution. Dr. Kearney previously served as the Executive Director of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), where she oversaw the largest national crisis line in the United States, led the successful national launch of 988 (press 1 for VCL) for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitated the enactment of VA’s National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide (2018) and the White House Strategy for Reducing Military and Veteran Suicide (2021). Dr. Kearney previously served as the Associate Director of Education at the VA Center for Integrated Healthcare and served on the executive team in the VA Office of Mental Health Operations (OMHO) as the Senior Consultant for Technical Assistance, overseeing mental health policy implementation through quality improvement site visits across VA. At the local level, Dr. Kearney served as the Chief of Psychology, Assistant Chief, Director of Training, and Director of Primary Care Mental Health Integration at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System. Dr. Kearney is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health San Antonio and Editor for Psychological Services. She has received the following recent national awards: American Psychological Association (APA) Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Institutional Practice (2024), the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders (AVAPL) Antonette Zeiss Distinguished Leadership Award (2021), APA Excellence in Clinical Health Psychology Award (2020), and Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers Outstanding Mid-Career Professional Contributions Award (2019). She has over 40 publications in the areas of integrated primary care, suicide prevention, mental health business operations, and training of mental health providers. Dr. Kearney is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin with a PhD in Counseling Psychology and is board certified in Clinical Health Psychology.