Andrea Lane Eastman has been a research assistant professor with the Children’s Data Network at USC since 2019. The Children’s Data Network provides a platform for the linkage and analysis of population-level, administrative data sources to inform children’s policies and programs. She is currently leading a portfolio of research for the Children’s Data Network funded through grants from the Reissa Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and stewarding a number of data partnerships, including with the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

Eastman is also co-director of the Transition Age Youth Research and Evaluation Hub (TAY-Hub) with Mark Courtney at the University of California, Berkeley. The TAY-Hub seeks to improve policies and practices affecting TAY by monitoring outcomes and through applied research that is grounded in engagement with members of the child welfare services community, including those with the lived experience of foster care.

Her scholarship has been informed by her previous work in the California State Senate where she served as a legislative aide and committee consultant on several state initiatives surrounding health and human services and public safety. Eastman graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s in Psychology, received her master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University, and earned a PhD in Social Work from USC. While obtaining her master’s degree, she provided therapy for families who experienced child maltreatment.