Society for Prevention Research
DNC Speaker Series
Advances in Prevention Science, Diversity, and Inclusion
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
Prevention is Relational: Building an Indigenous Implementation Science
Thursday, November 19, 2026
1:00–2:00 PM Eastern | 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific
Join us live on Zoom.
Featured Speaker
Speaker
Lauren White, PhD
University of Washington School of Social Work
Dr. Lauren White is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on promoting mental health and preventing substance use among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) youth. She is particularly interested in how Indigenous relationships, social networks, and community systems of care can inform community-led, evidence-based approaches to prevention.
Drawing on interdisciplinary training in epidemiology, social work, and social psychology, Dr. White integrates community-based participatory research (CBPR), implementation science, mixed methods, and social network analysis to investigate how Indigenous communities develop, implement, and sustain prevention activities and interventions. As a co-investigator on multiple NIH-funded studies, she works in partnership with Tribal communities to strengthen our understanding of how Tribes make things happen and build locally driven prevention efforts. Her emerging research agenda seeks to advance an Indigenous implementation science grounded in relationality, community knowledge, and Tribal self-determination.
About the Presentation
Prevention is Relational: Building an Indigenous Implementation Science
Dr. White will explore how Indigenous understandings of relationships, community, and collective responsibility can challenge and expand conventional approaches to implementation science. Drawing on her research with AIAN communities, she will discuss emerging directions for building an Indigenous implementation science grounded in relationality, community knowledge, and self-determination.
About the DNC Speaker Series
The DNC Speaker Series aims to highlight research on prevention science and public health led by researchers from underrepresented groups and primarily conducted with understudied groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, individuals who identify as a sexual minority, and individuals with disabilities.
The series also creates a forum for guest speakers to share career and professional reflections and promote discussion of diversity and inclusion in prevention science and public health.
Please note: The DNC Speaker Series is not recorded.
Questions? Please contact Jennifer Lewis, SPR Executive Director, at jenniferlewis@preventionresearch.org.