Leah Tallchief is joining the CMHEP team at the Center for Applied Research Solutions as a research associate/technical assistant. She comes from an equity, health, data, and business background specializing in county behavioral health. Following her masters in psychological sciences from Chico State, she worked in the private sector as a supervisor and program coordinator in the bay area. She wanted to utilize and continue her education, so she returned to Chico and began with Butte County as a fiscal analyst and specialized in SUD programs, Medi-Cal, DESS, and HUD working with their billing, contracts, audits, cost-reporting, and invoicing. During this time, she received her second master’s in business administration with the goal of becoming a director. Following graduation, she became Butte County’s training coordinator and senior analyst for human resources, responsible for tracking all Butte County’s training. This role also involved working together with the local communities of Hmong, Latinx, and the Stonewall Alliance to build trainings for staff to overcome disparities and learn more about their population served. After almost 10 years in Butte County, she moved to Sutter-Yuba County and became the Ethnic Services Manager, quality assurance analyst, QIC coordinator, and data analyst for their dual county behavioral health program. Leah is excited to bring this experience into the CARS environment and help develop tools and trainings to assist counties with their equity goals and reduce disparities.