Shana Judge, PhD, JD, MPP, MA, is an assistant professor at The University of New Mexico (UNM) College of Nursing. She is an interdisciplinary law and public policy researcher whose work focuses on using quantitative methods, including linear and nonlinear regression, latent variable analyses and secondary data and "big data" management techniques, to analyze relationships between government policies and the health and well-being of women, children and vulnerable populations. She has served as principal investigator for grant-funded research examining the impact of state abortion restrictions on abortion timing and associated health outcomes, particularly among minors. She has also served as principal investigator for grant-funded projects analyzing factors associated with sex trafficking cases in the United States and related outcomes, including links among prostitution, sex trafficking and a variety of legal, social and public health issues.

Before coming to UNM, Judge served as a postdoctoral research associate at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University. Prior to beginning doctoral studies in public policy, she worked as an attorney for the Texas state legislature. Her previous law and policy experience also includes work as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with Legal Aid in San Antonio and clerkships with the New Mexico Supreme Court and the American Bar Association's Public Services Division. In addition, Judge has worked as a reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the federal government.

A native New Mexican, Judge received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Juris Doctor degree from the UNM School of Law, a Master of Public Policy degree from Duke University, and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the Catholic University of America.