LaShai Jake is a research analyst at Child Trends. In this capacity, she supports research and evaluation activities focused on Indigenous children, youth, families, and communities. LaShai has expertise in mental health, violence and ACES’s prevention, substance use prevention and intervention, and Tribal health. Her research experience includes both qualitative and quantitative data collection, cleaning, and analysis. She draws upon qualitative storytelling, person-centered, and trauma informed evaluation and Tribal research methods. 
 
Prior to joining Child Trends, LaShai worked as an overdose prevention evaluator and epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health, where she helped with evaluation of three programs working to prevention and respond to overdose patients in the emergency departments, treatment courts, and Tribal communities. She previously was a case manager for several hospitals and the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake City. She was also a social worker on the Primary Care Children’s Hospital child abuse pediatrics team. 
 
LaShai graduated from the University of Utah with a dual Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work focused on maternal and child health, child welfare, and Tribal health. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico where she studied community health and Navajo linguistics.