Denise Natali is an American political scientist who was Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations from 2018 to 2020.

[1] She has been noted for her staunch criticism of the Kurdish Regional Government and its relations to the United States.

[2][3] Natali first received her bachelor's degree at the Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she studied government.

She then moved on to receive a master's degree in international affairs at the Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York City and would eventually receive her PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Before this, she gathered experience while working on and researching the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria.