Dr. Walker understands that adults who work with youth in sport – parents, coaches, teachers, and other mentors – have the power to activate their passions, self-narratives of empowerment, and sense of purpose. Accordingly, she endeavors to support adults who impact youth during sensitive developmental chapters when lifelong habits are embedded. Dr. Walker advocates for youth athletes and their mentors both directly – through teaching, speaking, and writing – and indirectly through support of organizations that advance high-quality sport experiences, increase access, and foster positive development and preventative health.

Dr. Walker received a B.S. in Finance at the University of Colorado, Boulder, then earned a CFA working as a portfolio manager for a buy side investment firm. She pivoted from finance to academia studying Behavioral Genetics, earning her doctorate from the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at Kings College London.  There she was inspired by the clear headline of biopsychosocial science: that each individual has the capacity to express their human potential when the context is safe, supportive and engaging. She went on to translate and apply cutting-edge neuroscience, genetics, psychology, and social science in the service of promoting healthy development for people of all ages, especially youth.

Dr. Walker serves on the Executive Leadership Committee and is a lead funder of Project Play Colorado, a statewide youth sport initiative co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and University of Colorado Health System. She is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and is the inaugural awardee of the Sachiko Kuno Award for Applied Science. She serves on the boards of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Mindful Philanthropy, the Youth Performance Institute, and Kent Denver School. She is a member of the United States Tennis Association’s Sport Science Commission, the Women’s Health Taskforce formed by Hologic, and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and founder of the Scobie Institute for Wellness.

Dr. Walker lives in Denver, and her greatest pride and joy is being a mother to her three sons. She loves tennis, mountain climbing, hot yoga, traveling, and playing with her two goldendoodles.