Heather Perez

Over the past nearly 20 years Ms. Perez has worked on the Project Safe Neighborhoods National Evaluation and Training and Technical Assistance team, Drug Market Intervention Training and Technical Assistance Initiative, Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative, Innovations Suite Training and Technical Assistance team, Strategies for Policing Innovation, Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network, various National Training and Technical Assistance requests and international exchanges with Chile and Argentina. Ms. Perez has contributed to various independent research projects as well as served as a Department of Justice Peer Reviewer for 12 years. In most recent efforts, Ms. Perez has assisted with the development of the Innovations Suite Researcher- Practitioner Fellows Academy, Violence Reduction Assessment Tool, Strategic/Grant Action Plan template, and Violent Crime Reduction Workshop.  She has also joined a national study team on Medical Assisted Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in jails. 

Prior to joining the research faculty at Michigan State University, Ms. Perez has worked for the Institute for Law and Justice and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. With a Master of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska Omaha, Ms. Perez has over 25 years of experience with evaluation research and design and training and technical assistance.