Colleen Heflin is a professor of public administration and international affairs.  She is also a faculty affiliate at the Center for Policy Research and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion. She also is a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine National Committee on Statistics.

As a research and policy scholar for over twenty years, Heflin is regarded as a national expert on food insecurity, nutrition and welfare policy, and the well-being of vulnerable populations. Heflin’s research has helped document the causes and consequences of food insecurity, identify the barriers and consequences of participation in nutrition programs, and understand the changing role of the public safety net in the lives of low-income Americans.

Heflin has experience engaging with federal policymakers, recently providing expert testimony before Congress, providing technical assistance to states working to improve access to food and nutrition assistance programs, and working with county agencies to redesign their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) application process.  She currently is engaged with the VA Medical Center in Syracuse, New York, to evaluate a pilot of home delivery of Medically Tailored Groceries on clinical outcomes and health utilization patterns of rural veterans with diabetes or hypertension.

Her recent book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adult Food Insecurity, with Madonna Harrington Meyer was published in fall 2025.