Speaker's Profile

Amanda Lienau, Ph.D., is the Director of Open Innovation with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem. She leads Mission Daybreak, VA's open innovation initiative for Veteran suicide prevention, overseeing a portfolio that has reached thousands of Veterans and VA employees, with over $36 million in prizes and pilot funding awarded. She has led dozens of small-scale and large-scale innovation initiatives with a primary focus on increasing meaningful use of information to improve access to care, equitable outcomes, and quality of life. In a previous role, she served as Senior Innovation Fellow on a project to democratize data and as Innovation Specialist at the VA St. Louis Health Care System. She has also held leadership roles in prevention, integrative and complementary care, and health behavior change at VA. Dr. Lienau brings deep experience in individual and systems change, health communication, and human-centered design, with a passion for empowerment, equity, and engagement. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from The Ohio State University and is a recipient of the Federal 100 Award and the 2026 Code for America - government changemaker award.