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Michele Abbott

michele abbott
Assistant Policy Researcher; Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Santa Monica Office

Education

B.S. in international business, University of Maryland

Overview

Michele Abbott is a doctoral student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She works on a range of projects tackling systemic development, risk, and resilience issues from a variety of stakeholder perspectives.

Select projects include a home-based care program for preventative services in disadvantaged Miami neighborhoods, integrating depression treatment into pre-existing microfinance and economic empowerment programs in Vietnam, combating obesity and food insecurity in Uganda, and constructing a global risk index at the nexus of food, energy, and water.

Prior to RAND, her research focused primarily on health financing and economic evaluations of community-based care programs for vulnerable populations, task-shifting interventions for malaria prevention, and point-of-care HIV testing technologies. She also has four years of experience implementing projects to strengthen health systems, including extensive in-country work experience across East Africa.

Abbott attended the University of Maryland where she served as a research fellow for the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) and received a B.S. in international business with a minor in English.

Research Focus

Commentary

  • Youth foodies Ojangole Max Igune and Regina Nantege create a recipe at the October 2017 Superfoods cook-off in Kampala, Uganda

    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

  • Kampala street food vendor Monica Kayagi makes a recipe during the Superfoods Cook-Off in December 2016

    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

  • Ugandan chefs display their creations at the first Superfoods Contest in December 2015

    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