Lauren Tingey

Lauren Tingey is a nationally recognized leader in developing and rigorously evaluating behavior change programs to improve the health and well-being of Tribal Nations and Indigenous populations. For two decades, Dr. Tingey has worked closely with Tribal partners to address community priorities including mental health, substance use, suicide, economic well-being, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections.

Dr. Tingey’s work spans Mathematica’s Health and Human Services divisions as well as federal, state, local, and foundation sectors. Since joining Mathematica, she has directed projects and served in principal investigator and senior advisor roles in the policy areas of family support, child welfare, health, education, employment, nutrition and healthcare evaluation. Currently, Dr. Tingey directs a study exploring how Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant programs can be more culturally responsive to Indigenous communities. She is also directing a project with the National Indian Health Board that is producing a cost estimate of fully funding healthcare provided by the Indian Health Service. Dr. Tingey is also principal investigator of a multilevel evaluation of a statewide contraceptive access initiative in Missouri and deputy director of a project with the Minnesota Department of Health using rapid cycle evaluation to explore how to improve clinical-community linkages for diabetes management in Indigenous communities.

Before joining Mathematica, Dr. Tingey was senior faculty in and associate director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health. As faculty, Dr. Tingey directed an interdisciplinary research team in the development, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral health interventions for Native youth and families. Dr. Tingey served as principal or co-investigator of projects where she conducted randomized controlled trials, mixed methods evaluations, and qualitative research; the projects were funded by grants from federal and private foundations totaling more than $40 million. Several programs proven efficacious by Dr. Tingey and her team have been disseminated to Tribal populations regionally and nationally. She has more than 65 peer-reviewed publications, and her work has been published in journals such as American Journal of Public Health, Pediatrics, Prevention Science, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Dr. Tingey has been invited to speak as an expert at more than 30 national seminars, including seminars held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Population Affairs, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Indian Health Service, National Indian Health Board, and Office of Indian Education.