Natalie Marie Alizaga was born in San Francisco, California. Through the support of her parents (natives of El Salvador and Nicaragua) she pursued higher education as a means of learning about feasible solutions to public health problems affecting her community.

Developing an understanding of disease prevention methods and health promotion guided Natalie to attain a B.S. in Health Science from San Jose State University and an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her public health interests include program planning and policy to address HIV and substance abuse disparities, particularly among the Latino, African American, LGBTQ, and homeless communities. Through Natalie’s experiences doing research in South Africa and the University of California, San Francisco, she has come to view evaluation as a way to ensure that programs are addressing the needs of the community it intends to serve.