Senior Behavioral Scientist; Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School
To schedule an interview, call (310) 451-6913 or email media@rand.org.
Steven Martino is a senior behavioral scientist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is an expert in the application of psychological and measurement theory to understand decisions and actions related to health and health care. His recent research focuses on health care disparities, vulnerable patient populations, and the assessment and reporting of information on health care quality.
Much of his research has focused on psychosocial aspects of adolescent substance use, social cognitive processes involved in adolescent sexual behavior, and the influence of various media (including television, movies, music, and various forms of advertising) on adolescents' beliefs and behaviors regarding sex and substance use. Martino also has experience conducting research on informational interventions for health care consumers using cognitive testing, surveys, focus groups, lab studies, and field evaluations.
For the past 15 years, he has led reporting efforts on several of RAND's CAHPS and CAHPS-related projects, directing development and testing of consumer reports on health care quality, conducting lab studies of how consumers use quality reports in decisionmaking, and developing and testing physician feedback reports. More recently, he has focused on the measurement, understanding, and reporting of health care disparities, and on the development of methods for reducing those disparities.
Martino received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota.
Ph.D. in psychology, University of Minnesota; B.A. in psychology, Boston College
