Throughout her career, Lara Berghammer has specialized in research design, data analytics, and program evaluation across the non-profit and public health sectors, with a particular focus on serving veteran and military-connected communities.
Lara continues to advance her expertise as a PhD candidate in the Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and San Diego State University (SDSU), specializing in epidemiology. She also contributes to a health E-Commerce Lab as a researcher, where she supports evaluation strategies to monitor and report compliance with public health laws.
Lara holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from LSU Health Sciences Center and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University. With over 14 years of experience in applied research and evaluation, she brings methodological rigor and interdisciplinary collaboration to every project. Her research interests center on chronic disease epidemiology, health promotion strategies, and the social and behavioral factors influencing well-being in post-9/11 veterans and military families. She has designed and implemented comprehensive evaluation frameworks, led large-scale data collection efforts, and contributed to research dissemination that drives data-informed policy and program development.
Lara believes that impactful research requires both methodological excellence and genuine connection to the communities being served. For her, the well-being of military families is personal—she grew up in Texas with fond memories of visiting her maternal grandfather at Kelly Air Force Base and wearing her paternal grandfather’s Navy hats as a kid. With grandparents, great uncles, uncles, and cousins who served and serve, she has always felt a strong connection to the military community. In her personal life, Lara enjoys fitness, travel, and adventures with her Great Dane, Pickles—who looks like a cow and is the size of a horse.