Lael is a senior analyst on the Evidence & Policy Analysis team. This team’s work includes What Works for Health (WWFH), a searchable online database that provides community leaders, coalitions, and others with promising strategies to respond effectively to their health priorities. In WWFH, analysts systematically assess, summarize, and rate evidence for policies and programs that can affect health behaviors, social & economic factors, the physical environment, and clinical care. This research and translation effort was initially developed with funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and expanded to support the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program in 2012.
Lael holds a Masters degree in Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin’s LaFollette School of Public Affairs and an Energy Analysis and Policy Certificate from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. She received a B.A. in French from Yale University. Prior to graduate school, she worked as an Assistant Director for Undergraduate Admissions at Yale and as the General Manager for L’Etoile and Café Soleil in Madison, Wisconsin. During graduate school, she worked as a Project Assistant on the Evidence-Based Health Policy Project for the UW Population Health Institute and the Wisconsin Legislative Council. Her interests focus on health and sustainability, which she approaches through food, agriculture, energy, and environmental policy.