Emily Naiser

For over 15 years, Emily Naiser has led multi-disciplinary projects in a range of disciplines at the Public Policy Research Institute, including public health, criminal justice, and workforce. She has obtained over $20 million dollars in grants. She utilizes qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to ascertain program effectiveness and develop best practice recommendations to state-level policymakers.

Emily currently oversees the Texas Youth Action Network Program. This program introduces positive youth development and spreads youth adult partnerships across the state of Texas improving the health of Texas adolescents. This program has given out over 1 million dollars to local communities and influenced 40,000 people directly. She recently launched the program evaluation for the Texas Overdose Data to Action Program aimed at reducing opioid-related drug poisonings in Texas.

Emily’s foray into criminal justice research started as a co-principal investigator on the Transformative Justice Program Evaluation. The research team utilized a randomized control trial designed to see if offering young adults in the criminal justice system comprehensive case management and other supports can reduce their involvement in the criminal justice system and improve their health. From there, she has led the qualitative research components on numerous criminal justice projects, covering topics such assessing the needs of indigent defense systems in rural counties, an analysis of a county public defense system, and evaluated the salary and staffing needs of court system personnel. Her work has been utilized by state and county legislators to make decisions related to funding of court systems.