Naneida R. Lazarte-Alcala is a Senior Researcher in the Office of Planning, Research and Statistics (OPRS) at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS). Her research areas are focused on the fields of Economic Development and Poverty in developing countries, as well as Regional Economic Development and the impact evaluation of ongoing public policy initiatives of the State of Oklahoma. 

Lazarte-Alcala completed her undergraduate studies at the Universidad Católica de Bolivia in Bolivia in 1997, received a master’s degree from the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset/Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Madrid in 2002, and completed her PhD in Economics at the Oklahoma State University (OSU) in December 2010.  As a graduate student at OSU, Lazarte-Alcala received the Leftwich Distinguished OSU Graduate Fellowship. Upon completing her Doctoral degree she was appointed for her current position at OKDHS/OPRS.

As part of her research and professional experience, Lazarte-Alcala has worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, Bolivian Government, and the Center for Applied Economic Research at the Oklahoma State University. She also has a diverse and successful teaching experience in the fields of Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Managerial Economics.

In her current position, Lazarte-Alcala is in charge of the sampling plans and procedures, caseloads forecasting, for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Eligibility Quality Control Program; she is the program evaluator for the Oklahoma Lifespan Respite Care Project, and is part of the Evaluation team for the Oklahoma’s ADRC Options Counseling and Assistance Program. She performs statistical analysis and research on different welfare programs providing key insights for the decision making process in OKDHS.