Welcome, Vivian Lyons!

SDRG is pleased to welcome research scientist Vivian Lyons, PhD, to our staff. Vivian received her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Washington, where she studied interpersonal violence, firearms and translational research including an evaluation of a randomized trial to support patients’ health and wellbeing following firearm injury. A native Seattleite, she was inspired to a career of service at a young age by her mom’s work for a small nonprofit agency in South Seattle. Before graduate school, Vivian worked for an agency combatting domestic violence. Those experiences led to her understanding of the ways intimate partner violence, elder abuse, and other domestic violence are structurally tied to the social determinants of health.

Most recently, Vivian completed a post doc at the University of Michigan Department of Health Behavior and Health Education as part of the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens National Consortium. She splits her time between SDRG, where she focuses on intervention evaluation to improve youth health and well-being, and the Allies for Healthier Systems for Health & Abundance in Youth program, where she supports community-led solutions for systemic change to advance health equity for youth and families.

Vivian lives with her very musical family and several standard poodles in an intergenerational household in West Seattle. She is the mother of two children and enjoys gardening, swimming, and sailing.