About
Dr. Lauren White is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She grew up in southeastern Oklahoma and is an alumna of Idabel Public Schools, where her CIRCLE pilot project is taking place. She earned an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Washington and an MSW and joint PhD in Social Work and Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. She is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work.
Dr. White is an Indigenous implementation scientist whose research examines how Tribal communities build, adapt, implement, and sustain interventions that support the mental health and well-being of Indigenous youth and families. Her work integrates implementation science, community-based participatory research, and social network analysis to identify strategies that bolster Tribal sovereignty, draw on community strengths, and center locally defined priorities and outcomes.
Her research has included collaborations with American Indian and Alaska Native communities on community-driven interventions addressing substance use, youth suicide, and related mental health concerns. Across this work, she studies how relationships, local knowledge, organizational context, and community leadership shape program implementation and sustainment. Her broader research agenda seeks to strengthen Indigenous implementation science through theories, methods, and strategies that are both scientifically rigorous and responsive to Tribal priorities.
Her CIRCLE pilot project, the ITTAHOBA Youth Connections Study, will use school-based social network analysis to examine the relationships, community strengths, and local conditions that shape youth substance use and its prevention. Findings will inform a Choctaw-led educator training designed to strengthen supportive relationships around local youth and lay the groundwork for a relationship-centered prevention intervention.
Dr. White lives with her husband and children in South Seattle and maintains strong ties to her family and community in southeastern Oklahoma. She enjoys beadwork and making beautiful things for people she loves.
