Laura Arena

Laura Arena is a program manager for RTI’s Community and Workplace Health program. She specializes in qualitative and mixed-methods program evaluations and has more than 15 years of experience evaluating chronic disease prevention and control programs. Her approach centers on multidisciplinary collaboration on evaluation planning, implementation, data collection and analysis.  

At RTI, Ms. Arena leads and supports multiple program evaluations funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since 2017, she has collaborated with CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control to conduct a series of case studies that evaluate the implementation of evidence-based interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening in primary care clinics across the United States. She recently collaborated with CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation to conduct a Food is Medicine (FIM) study that evaluated the implementation costs and impact of FIM programs on diabetes outcomes. She has also conducted formative research for the New York State Department of Health to inform strategies to increase access to CDC-recognized diabetes prevention programs and diabetes self-management education and support.

Before joining RTI in 2010, Ms. Arena researched cancer prevention and control at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Ms. Arena's notable publications include Modifications in primary care clinics to continue colorectal cancer screening promotion during the COVID-19 pandemic, Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Participating in Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support Services From Multiple Perspectives: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study of Medicaid Members, Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, and Providers in New York State, Health departments' role in addressing social determinants of health in collaboration with multisector community partnerships, Potential Use of Voice-Activated Personal Assistants in Diabetes Prevention and Management: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, Factors that support readiness to implement integrated evidence-based practice to increase cancer screening and Factors that support sustainability of health systems change to increase colorectal cancer screening in primary care clinics: A longitudinal qualitative study.