Alana Ward joined Child Trends in July 2014 and serves as senior research communications specialist. As project director of the HHS Office of Adolescent Health’s (OAH) website and communications contract, Alana is responsible for project management, content development for the OAH website, communications outreach to grantees and OAH partners, and social media coordination. Alana also provides strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and policy communications expertise on a range of Child Trends projects involving topics such as teen pregnancy prevention, Hispanic children and youth, and child welfare.

Previously, Alana was a senior program officer at Partnership for Prevention, where she served as the co-director of the National Coalition for Sexual Health. In addition to leading strategic planning and stakeholder outreach, she managed branding and communications activities for the coalition. Alana has also served as a Teach for America corps member in the Bronx in New York City. She holds a master of public policy degree from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a master of science in teaching degree from Pace University. She received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.