Deborah M. Scharf

Biography

Deborah Scharf is a clinical and health psychologist and an associate behavioral scientist at RAND. She is an expert in clinical research methods including clinical trial design, program evaluation, and management and analysis of large, longitudinal data sets. Scharf has content expertise in smoking behavior and cessation, other substance abuse, and mental illness. While at RAND, Scharf has worked on several projects involving tobacco treatment, policy, and electronic, real-time monitoring of tobacco advertising and tobacco use. She has also worked on projects involving mental health and traumatic brain injury in the military and adolescent risk behaviors (e.g., sexual risk taking and teen pregnancy). Scharf also holds an appointment as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh. She received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.