About Us
Next Wave Public Health's mission is to equip public health organizations with data-driven, actionable insights that support strategic planning, quality improvements, and measurable increases in outcomes.
Why work with us?
Built by practioners, for practioners.
• Purpose-built for harm reduction & public health outreach workflows
• Designed by people who have actually managed the chaos
• Pre-configured data platforms for evidence-based interventions
• Alignment with funding partner expectations
• Sophisticated analytics without requiring a dedicated IT department
OUR TEAM
founder & principal consultant
Nai Walter, MPH
Nai Walter is a public health strategist with more than 10 years of experience leading state and local government initiatives in overdose prevention, harm reduction, and behavioral health policy. She founded Next Wave Public Health Solutions to bring that same evidence-based, results-driven approach to state, city, and county government agencies, health departments, coalitions, and nonprofits.
Program & Policy Leadership:
Co-manages the planning and implementation of New Mexico's statewide Naloxone Saturation Strategy as Technical Specialist, guiding the rollout of regional Naloxone hubs and vending machines across the state with a focus on rural and high-risk communities.
Developed New Mexico's first drug-crisis policies for the 988 Crisis Now system, shaping how mobile crisis teams respond to overdoses and drug use-related emergencies.
Contributed to policy development related to House Bill 52, integrating harm reduction programs into New Mexico's crisis response continuum
Managed a multi-year Strategic Prevention Framework grant for Doña Ana County, managing program strategy, budget compliance, and community coalition-building
Coordinated regional overdose prevention efforts as Southwest Overdose Prevention Coordinator for the NM Department of Health
Applies systems mapping and data-driven approaches to guide statewide resource allocation, including work with New Mexico's overdose data mapping and Naloxone ordering system
Community Leadership:
Part-time instructor, Public Health Department, New Mexico State University; has precepted more than 30 undergraduate and graduate public health students
Serves on several state and local organizations' Boards of Directors
New Mexico Public Health Association (served as President-Elect, President, and Past President, 2021-24)
Bilingual (English/Spanish); certified Naloxone Overdose Prevention educator/trainer in both languages
Certified Harm Reduction Specialist
Education
MPH, Policy, Administration, and Management, New Mexico State University
We are educators, working to advance public health knowledge at the university level. Working with students brings fresh ideas for community engagement to the team through our integrated internships. Reach out for more information.
"Next Wave Public Health helped us secure funding to digitize our screening process, and then created our data dashboard so we could see our collective impact, at a glance."
- Southern New Mexico Diabetes Outreach
Better data, better outcomes.
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1849 Boston Dr, Las Cruces New Mexico 88001
(575) 621-4355
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