Lyle Becenti

Title: Research Program Assistant

Tribal Affiliation: Navajo

Location: Shiprock, NM

Biography

Lyle (he/him) is a member of the Navajo Nation from Shiprock, NM. Their clans are Naakaii Diné’é, born for Dził Táád (Apache). Maternal and paternal grandfathers are Kinyaa’áanii. Lyle joined the Center in June of 2024 to help alleviate the suicide rate on the Navajo Nation. Specifically, he works with Honoring Life as Research Program Assistant. He reaches out to youth and young adults to implement suicide surveillance tools for evaluation purposes. Lyle wants to give back to the Navajo Nation and Honoring Life aligns with this motivation.

He started his career in research and evaluation at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in 2016. His work experience includes Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) in Flagstaff, AZ, Nye County Drug Court program, and State Opioid Response (SOR) grant in Las Vegas, NV. Each program’s objective was to improve quality of life among underserved community members. Lyle earned their BS in Biomedical Science and MPH from NAU. He wants to continue his education by attending medical school in the next five years.