Contact
linkedin.com/in/myia-welsh/Education
BA, Social Work, University of Toledo
MSW, Social Policy and Program Evaluation, University of Michigan
As a Program Director for WVU Health Affairs Institute, Myia provides oversight and management for the West Virginia Children’s In-Home and Community-Based Service Improvement Project (also known as the Children’s Mental Health Evaluation). This project is a multi-year outcomes evaluation measuring the impact of improvements to mental and behavioral health services for children across the state. As Program Director, she works with partners and stakeholders to identify project priorities and then ensures that those priorities are reflected in an effective, useful evaluation.
Myia is passionate about evaluation work that contributes to informed decision-making. She works to understand all the dimensions of client needs and to nurture collaborative relationships. As such, she has a professional interest in utilization-focused evaluation practices and appreciative inquiry in evaluation.
Since 2008, Myia has worked with government agencies, community organizations, and philanthropic foundations to answer questions about the effectiveness of programs and interventions. She has specific experience in the evaluation of community-based health interventions, support services for human trafficking survivors, the impact of philanthropic portfolios, evaluation capacity building, and designing evaluation strategies suited to the unique needs of the end user. She loves affecting the quality of life of real people by getting good information to decision-makers to support smart policies and interventions.
Prior to joining the Health Affairs Institute, Myia led a statewide health intervention for WV state employees, worked as an Associate Evaluator at Innovation Network in Washington, D.C., and ran her own small independent consultancy. When not working, Myia can be found on the many hiking trails of West Virginia, roaming the stacks of the nearest library, or cooking up something delicious with her family.
Published Works: