Alitasha Younger
Bethesda,MD
Summary
Strategic and deductive thinker, with a solid foundation in research methodologies, evaluation techniques, and data interpretation. Adept at synthesizing complex information into actionable insights for advancing health equity. Capable of driving meaningful improvements through evidence-based recommendations.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Public Health Analyst
Health Research and Services Administration (HRSA)
06.2023 - Current
- Lead the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a 4-year federal award totaling $12 million
- Manage and clearly communicate program specific terms, deliverables, HRSA reporting requirements
- Proactively address challenges with grantees and identify actionable solutions
- Monitor and manage active grants, track compliance, and provide technical assistance to grantees
- Collaborate with technical assistance providers to develop learning opportunities and establish peer connections to support the implementation of sustainable care coordination strategies in rural communities
- Develop and update deliverable templates (Baseline Services Map, Data Collection and Strategic Plans) and continuously update guidance materials (factsheets, and guides) to support grantee success in collaboration with technical assistance providers
- Review and analyze grantee progress annually
- Develop reports highlighting the impact of grant funding to executive level leadership
- Write funding opportunities including conducting formative research, developing concept paper, and logic models
- Lead the coordination of data reporting and analysis for internal stakeholders
- Utilize the grants management system for programmatic tracking, reporting, documenting, and resolving issues
- Coordinate with the Rural Health Information Hub to highlight grantee successes and innovations in rural health
- Represent the HRSA at programmatic site visits and conferences as needed
Health Program Administrator I (Contractor)
Health Research Inc.
03.2020 - 06.2023
- Managed contract totaling $4.9 million annually. ensuring fiscal accuracy, programmatic alignment, and equitable distribution of program funds to conduct quality of care reviews evaluating health disparities for Medicaid recipients in NYS
- Led annual program planning and developed contract work plans and budgets (with varying contract periods), quickly responding to changing directions regarding contract extensions
- Collaborated with internal and external stakeholders such as the Department of Corrections and DOH (Department of Health) in the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data
- Led research coordination, IRB submission, data collection tool development and conducted semi-structured interviews for a qualitative study exploring the experiences of women of color living with HIV as they accessed maternal care in NYS
- Prepared written analysis and summaries on quality of care review projects and Medicaid reform activities
- Actively supported the revision of the State Plan Amendment for the NYS Medicaid Harm Reduction Services benefit package
- Contributed to the development of a harm reduction provider service and billing manual and Medicaid Managed Care plan directory
- Analyzed utilization data to evaluate program success and make recommendations to enhance service utilization
- Served as project lead in the Office of Drug User Health for a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cooperative agreement piloting the use of a near-real-time method of detecting increases in nonfatal self-harm and suicide-related outcomes within a community
- Drafted concise programmatic reports describing successes, and challenges in the development of a self-harm data dissemination program to share with CDC funding partners, internal, and external stakeholders
- Developed a dissemination and communication plan using the '4E' dissemination framework to increase the uptake of the surveillance data in local settings
- Developed, updated, and implemented annual program work plans, and evaluation plans
- Conducted an audience segmentation analysis and applied health literacy principles in the development of communication products
- Developed evidence-based suicide prevention recommendations for local health departments and their community partners to support and increase the long-term uptake of syndromic surveillance data
- Coordinated an advisory board of key state and local stakeholders to inform data dissemination strategies, and population health messaging
- Developed a stakeholder tracking tool to demonstrate the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement and outreach strategies
- Conducted needs assessments for NYS DOH-funded harm reduction providers to assess the feasibility of a pilot integrating suicide and self-harm prevention into their programmatic structure for people living with HIV and people who use drugs
Health Communications Fellow
Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education
09.2018 - 02.2020
- Provided direction to contractors on social and digital media strategy and creative for the CDC's Let's Stop HIV Together provider-focused campaigns
- Supervised consultants and collaborated with internal partners to produce monthly evidence-based digital content with recommendations for integrating HIV testing and screening into primary care that reached an audience of over 10,000 primary care providers
- Conducted formative research, literature reviews, and landscape analyses of relevant stakeholders, digital information-seeking behaviors among clinicians, best practices in social and content marketing
- Increased social media content production by 27% and total engagement per post by 37% in a year
- Increased website analytics by 65%, total impressions by 92%, and total engagement by 68% from the prior year
Analytics and Evaluation Intern
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC)
07.2017 - 05.2018
- Provided study coordination, research, and recruitment assistance for a large-scale HRSA funded demonstration project identifying the pathways through which distinct types of stigmas affect the length of time to viral suppression for Latino men who have sex with men
Grants Assistant
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
07.2017 - 05.2018
- Supported the Grants and Contracts Management department with administrative support developing standard reports, infographics, blogs and managing databases in Excel to track funding streams, non-expendable items, grantee successes and contact information for over 100 state and local organizations
Health Programs Intern
PCI Media Impact
09.2017 - 12.2017
- Served as the programmatic assistant for Ouro Negro (Black Gold), a national radio drama in Mozambique designed by UNICEF, Radio Mozambique, PCI Media, and the World Food Program as Facts for Life (FFL)'s flagship communication program that reached over 1.4 million listeners per episode and incited reported behavior change in 70% of the audience
Education
DrPH - Community Health Sciences
SUNY (State University of New York) Downstate Health Sciences, School of Public Health
New York, NY05.2029
MPH - Community and International Health Sciences
New York University, School of Global Public Health
New York, NY05.2018
BA - Africana Studies, International Economics
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NYSkills
- Health promotion and behavior
- Health communication
- Strategic planning
- Project management
- Literature reviews
- Survey design
- Formative research
- Evaluation methodologies
- Qualitative research methods
- Qualitative Analysis (Dedoose)
- SPSS
- MS Office Suite
Publications
- The Characteristics and HIV-Related Outcomes of People Living with Co-occurring HIV and Mental Health Conditions in the United States: A Systematic Review of Literature from 2016 to 2021, O'Grady, T., Inman, N., Younger, A., Huang, B., Bouton, T. O., Kim, H., DeLorenzo, E., AIDS and behavior, 28, 1, 201–224, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04150-9
- Depressive Symptoms and HIV Viral Suppression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Huang, B., Younger, A., Gallant, M. P., O'Grady, T. J., AIDS and behavior, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-024-04571-0, 2024
Timeline
Public Health Analyst
Health Research and Services Administration (HRSA)
06.2023 - Current
Health Program Administrator I (Contractor)
Health Research Inc.
03.2020 - 06.2023
Health Communications Fellow
Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education
09.2018 - 02.2020
Health Programs Intern
PCI Media Impact
09.2017 - 12.2017
Analytics and Evaluation Intern
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC)
07.2017 - 05.2018
Grants Assistant
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
07.2017 - 05.2018
DrPH - Community Health Sciences
SUNY (State University of New York) Downstate Health Sciences, School of Public Health
MPH - Community and International Health Sciences
New York University, School of Global Public Health
BA - Africana Studies, International Economics
Vassar College