Kristina Carter Bartley is the Founder and President of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Enrichment (AALAE), an organization dedicated to advancing enrichment, behavior management, and welfare-centered practices across the laboratory animal science community.

Kristina’s passion for animal welfare began early in her career while working as a veterinary technician at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During her breaks, she found herself drawn to observing nonhuman primates in their play cages, watching their behaviors, interactions, and responses to their environment. What started as curiosity quickly became a deeper realization: behavior and enrichment were not just supportive aspects of care, they were essential.

That perspective shaped the trajectory of her career.

Over the past 15+ years, with more than a decade focused specifically on behavior management and enrichment, Kristina has worked to bridge the gap between research, welfare, and practical implementation. She currently serves as Director of the Behavior Management and Psychological Enrichment Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she leads the development and execution of innovative, behavior-focused strategies, particularly for nonhuman primates.

AALAE was born from a simple idea: create a space where professionals could openly discuss enrichment challenges, share ideas, and learn from one another. What began as a small enrichment club in New York City quickly grew into monthly roundtable discussions, revealing a clear need for a larger, more connected community. In 2023, Kristina expanded that vision into AALAE, now a growing national platform offering virtual enrichment clubs, educational webinars, and a collaborative enrichment database.

In addition to her work through AALAE, Kristina is a keynote speaker and educator, known for translating complex behavioral concepts into practical, real-world strategies. She has developed laboratory animal behavior coursework for Drexel University’s Master’s Program in Laboratory Animal Science and teaches small animal handling techniques at Delaware Valley University.

Kristina has authored publications in journals such as JAALAS and Lab Animal and has presented as an invited and speaker at national and regional conferences including AALAS, Quad, TriBranch, the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research, and APV. She also serves on collaborative working groups with the Association of Primate Veterinarians (APV) and the American Society of Primatologists (ASP), contributing to initiatives focused on nonhuman primate welfare and behavior-informed practices.

Through both her institutional role and the founding of AALAE, Kristina has emerged as a leading voice in advancing enrichment and behavior management within the biomedical field. She is among the first in the industry to establish a dedicated organization of this scale focused specifically on enrichment setting a new standard for how the field approaches behavior, welfare, and collaboration. Kristina continues to drive the field forward by creating spaces, resources, and systems that did not previously exist within laboratory animal science.