Naiya Patel is an Evidence Analyst for the Evidence and Policy Analysis Team at County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R).
Prior to joining CHR&R, Naiya served as a Policy and Program Analyst Advanced with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services in the Division of Medicaid Services focusing on the Wisconsin FoodShare program. Throughout graduate school, Naiya had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects as a Graduate Research Assistant and a Project Assistant. She analyzed policies and supported projects related to aging, higher education, and health equity and researched impacts of substance abuse and telemedicine in rural communities.
Naiya holds dual master’s degrees in Public Affairs and Public Health from the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has a B.S. in Nutritional Science and certificates in Global Health and Leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interests focus on health disparities, healthcare systems, socioeconomic barriers, and access to health services.
The Evidence & Policy Analysis 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.