Tufel is a senior adviser for MDRC’s Publications Department, which she directed from 2020 to 2024. Before that, she served as managing editor and senior editor. She also was the head of staff and administrative functions in the Oakland and Los Angeles offices. She works with staff across the organization, and has reviewed and edited materials covering all of MDRC’s research interests—economic mobility, housing, and communities; preschool through twelfth grade and higher education; youth development, criminal justice, and employment; families and children; and early childhood studies. Before joining MDRC in 2008, Tufel worked for many years as an editor and communications adviser at nonprofit research and advocacy organizations in the health and social sciences. She also ran a successful editorial business, with clients that included the Aspen Institute, Columbia University, Ford Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and UNICEF, among others. She began her editorial and publishing career at John Wiley & Sons and, later, the Population Council in New York City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Union College and a master’s degree in English literature from Hunter College of the City University of New York.
