Michele Abbott

Assistant Policy Researcher; Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Pittsburgh Office

Education

M.Phil. in policy analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School; B.S. in international business, University of Maryland

Overview

Michele Abbott is an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include systems analysis and multi-sector solutions to complex social problems. At RAND, Abbott conducts mixed-methods research and evaluation of community health and well-being interventions, both in the U.S. and internationally. Abbott’s dissertation develops a grounded theory model of household resilience and conducts a realist evaluation of a household-centered care intervention on the social determinants of health in Miami, FL.

Prior to RAND, Abbott worked at Abt Associates on USAID-funded global health projects across East Africa. At Abt, she delivered national-level capacity building in health systems strengthening and conducted evaluations of community-based interventions for vulnerable populations. Abbott attended the University of Maryland where she completed the Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) Honors program; served as a research fellow for the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS); and received a B.S. in international business and a minor in English.

Research Focus

Selected Publications

Lynsay Ayer, Dana Schultz, Mental Health Task-Shifting in Community-Based Organizations (RR-3083-MFANYC)

Schmitt Olabisi, Laura; Azhar, Gulrez; Abbott, Michele; Lempert, Robert J., "Participatory modeling of climate change impacts on public health in Long Beach, California," RAND Health Quarterly, 8(1), 2018

Abbott, Michele; Ramchand, Rajeev.; Chamberlin, Margaret.; Marcellino, William, "Detecting Changes in Newspaper Reporting of Suicide after a Statewide Social Marketing Campaign," Health Communication, 2017

Melinda Moore, Laura J. Faherty, Shira H. Fischer, Kathryn E. Bouskill, Julie DaVanzo, Claude Messan Setodji, Bill Gelfeld, Emily Hoch, Luke J. Matthews, Sarah Weilant, Michele Abbott, Gabriela Armenta, Rouslan I. Karimov, Adeyemi Theophilus Okunogbe, Uza, Evaluation of Two Programs Supporting Global Family Planning Data Needs (RR-2112-BMGF)

Abbott, Michele; Bazilian, Morgan; Egel, Daniel; Willis, Henry H., "Examining the Food-Energy-Water and Conflict Nexus," Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 18, 2017

Honors & Awards

James Q. Wilson Dissertation Fellowship, Pardee RAND Graduate School
JL Foundation Dissertation Award, JL Foundation
Spotlight Award, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Commentary

How Uganda Could Benefit from a Center for Food Innovation
A training and innovation center that trains and certifies street food vendors to address issues related to food hygiene, safety, and quality would accelerate the growth of a new Ugandan cuisine that capitalizes on nutritious local ingredients in a sustainable manner.
May 23, 2017 The RAND Blog
What Street Food Vendors in Uganda Need to Succeed
Street vendors in Kampala, Uganda, would benefit from infrastructure development, food safety standards, rules of hygiene, and greater focus on healthy products. The city's growing population also would benefit from increased access to nutritious and affordable foods.
May 16, 2017 The RAND Blog
A New Ugandan Cuisine: Showcasing Superfood Qualities of Millet and Sorghum
The results of a series of cooking contests in Uganda to promote the use of drought-tolerant, nutritious traditional grains—millet and sorghum—signal that a new food trend may be on the horizon.
May 9, 2017 The RAND Blog

Publications

Research Brief
Use of Tobacco Products Among Unaccompanied Youth Experiencing Homelessness
To understand patterns of use and interest in quitting different types of tobacco products among youth experiencing homelessness, a RAND team surveyed these youth in Los Angeles County to inform efforts to reduce their use of tobacco products.
May 5, 2021
Journal Article
Knowledge of Alternative Tobacco Products in Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
This study examined perceptions of factors that influence use and non-use of Alternative Tobacco Products (ATPs) among unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness.
2019
Journal Article
Cost Evaluation of Integrating Local HIV and Housing Data to Facilitate Service Coordination in Four Demonstration Sites
As part of the evaluation of a federal initiative to integrate HIV medical and housing data at four local jurisdictions in the U.S., we estimated the financial costs of implementing data integration occurring from June 2016 to August 2018.
Mar 12, 2021
Report
Mental Health Task-Shifting in Community-Based Organizations: Implementation, Impact, and Cost — Evaluation of the Connections to Care Program
In this report, RAND researchers describe the Connections to Care task-shifting model and their evaluation of how it was implemented, its intended impact on mental health and other outcomes, and how much it costs community-based organizations.
Nov 12, 2020
Report
Evaluation of the Connections to Care (C2C) Initiative: Interim Report
This interim report presents preliminary evaluation findings for New York City's Connections to Care program, which seeks to expand access to mental health support for low-income New Yorkers via a task shifting model.
Nov 29, 2018
Report
Participatory Modeling of Climate Change Impacts on Public Health in Long Beach, California: Discussion from a Workshop Hosted by the RAND Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition
Participatory modeling, using causal loop diagramming, was employed to identify public health issues; examine connections between climate change and public health; and understand feedback loops among climate change impacts and public health.
Mar 7, 2018
Research Brief
Data and Family Planning: An Evaluation of Two Programs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
This brief summarizes an evaluation of two programs to help monitor progress toward a global goal to increase modern contraceptive use by 2020. Both programs can improve promotion of country-driven agendas for data collection, use, and ownership.
Feb 5, 2018
Report
Evaluation of Two Programs Supporting Global Family Planning Data Needs: Assessing Achievements, Informing Future Directions
This evaluation of two programs that help monitor progress toward a global goal to increase modern contraceptive use by 2020 is based on qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with more than 260 stakeholders in 16 countries.
Feb 5, 2018
Report
Evaluation of Two Programs Supporting Global Family Planning Data Needs: Summary
This report summarizes an evaluation of two programs that help monitor progress toward a global goal to increase modern contraceptive use by 2020.
Feb 5, 2018
Journal Article
Examining the Food-Energy-Water and Conflict Nexus
This article provides an in-depth review of the interactions between insecurity and conflict within the component sectors of the FEW nexus.
2017
Report
Informing Pittsburgh's Options to Address Lead in Water
This Perspective reviews the history and recent developments related to the use of lead in Pittsburgh's water system and the costs, regulatory barriers, and feasibility of the policy options for remediation under consideration by decisionmakers.
Jun 27, 2017
Journal Article
Detecting Changes in Newspaper Reporting of Suicide After a Statewide Social Marketing Campaign
In conclusion and similar to many past evaluations, we find no evidence that the KTS campaign was effective in changing the way in which suicides are reported on in California had any effect.
Apr 4, 2017
Tool
Developing the Pardee RAND Food-Energy-Water Security Index: Toward a Global Standardized, Quantitative, and Transparent Resource Assessment
To provide information to agencies and efforts focused on food, water, and energy resources, the RAND Corporation developed the Pardee RAND Food-Energy-Water Security Index. This report serves as the technical documentation for the index.
Apr 28, 2016