Dr. Kristen Desjarlais-deKlerk (she/they) is a Red River Métis woman with nearly two decades of academic experience and peer-reviewed scholarship. Her research has focused on social development topics, including inequality, homelessness, housing, social support, health, and harm reduction. She has served on a variety of community boards dedicated to housing, and poverty reduction. She currently serves as a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, the CIHR Advisory Committee on Ethics, and co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. Dr. Desjarlais-deKlerk has taught at universities and colleges throughout Alberta as well as Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia. She is currently an Associate Professor in Business and Administration at the University of Winnipeg in Winnipeg, Manitoba.