Alana Knudson, PhD

Alana Knudson, PhD, serves as a Program Area Director in the Public Health Department at NORC at the University of Chicago and is the Director of NORC’s Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. Dr. Knudson has over 25 years of experience implementing and directing public health programs, leading health services and policy research projects, and evaluating program effectiveness. She has led projects funded by many federal agencies and private foundations. Dr. Knudson currently serves as the Project Director for the Rural Cohort Analysis of Rural Health Programs funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy that examines the use of telehealth and health information technology to increase access to care and improve the for the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model evaluation funded by CMMI, and Project Director of the Health Resources & Services Administration Bureau of Health Workforce Substance Use Disorder Evaluation. Dr. Knudson has state and national public health experience having worked at the North Dakota Department of Health and for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). She serves on the RUPRI Health Panel, the Board of Directors for the Maryland Rural Health Association, the National Rural Health Resource Center, the Rural Health Foundation, and is a member of the University of Maryland School of Public Health Community Advisory Council and the ETSU Center for Rural Health Research Advisory Board. She received the 2021 National Rural Health Association Researcher of the Year Award.