Alana is the director of the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis and has over 30 years of experience leading health services research projects and implementing and evaluating public health programs. She has deep expertise in rural health, public health, health services research, telehealth, workforce, and evaluation. Alana has conducted numerous health services and health policy studies and public health projects funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others. Her project findings have informed state, tribal, and federal health policy.

Alana is the project director for the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model Evaluation funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and for the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center, one of eight rural health research centers funded by HRSA’’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP). She has recently led research studies focused on telehealth, health care utilization, workforce development, rural public health, and long-term services and supports. With extensive experience in translating research into practice, Alana has played a key role in developing evidence-based toolkits for the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub), funded by FORHP. These toolkits, which have garnered nearly 15 million page views, showcase evidence-based and promising programs that have been successfully implemented in rural communities to enhance the health and well-being of rural residents.

Prior to joining NORC in 2009, Alana was the associate director for research at the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Alana also has state and national public health experience having worked at the North Dakota Department of Health and for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO).