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Dana Petersen

Research Social Scientist

Dana Petersen, Ph.D., has worked on numerous process and outcome evaluations of community-based initiatives for children and families in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. Dr. Petersen has considerable experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research, including research design, interview and survey construction, and analysis and report writing. She also has experience with project management and coordination. With a background in public health and anthropology, Dr. Petersen has particular expertise in cultural competence as it pertains to the design, implementation, and evaluation of health and social service programs. She also has experience providing technical assistance on data collection and evaluation. Dr. Petersen is particularly interested in the use of community-building strategies to improve health outcomes at the individual and population levels.

Currently, Dr. Petersen directs the evaluation of First 5 San Mateo's Special Needs Project, which aims to improve countywide systems that support families with young children with disabilities and other special needs. She also is working with the Washington State Department of Early Learning and its partners to develop recommendations for a kindergarten readiness assessment process for Washington State. Additionally, Dr. Petersen is working with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to examine the ways in which school districts in California work with local arts organizations to provide arts education in public schools.

Recently, Dr. Petersen worked on the Statewide Data Collection and Evaluation of First 5 California Funded Programs. She contributed to the analysis and writing of various reports to the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, as well as to the creation of technical assistance tools to support collection of comparable outcome data across First 5 funded programs and participants. She oversaw development of case studies documenting the activities of 10 First 5 Special Needs Project demonstration sites. Dr. Petersen previously served as the technical assistance coach coordinator for the statewide evaluation, coordinating the provision of technical assistance statewide.

Previously, Dr.. Petersen worked on SRI's evaluations of the Parent Institute for Quality Education's family-school partnership and empowerment model and on the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts Pilot Art and Public Education Initiative. She also worked on SRI's evaluation of the Sierra Health Foundation's Community Partnerships for Healthy Children initiative. Her work with this project included qualitative data collection through interviews and observations, data analysis and report writing, and the provision of technical assistance to six community collaboratives in Northern California.

Dr. Petersen holds a master's degree in anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a doctorate in public health from the University of California at Berkeley.