Allison Schmidt

Allison Schmidt is social scientist at RTI where she leads multidisciplinary teams to accomplish mixed-methods behavioral science research studies, largely focused on program and policy evaluation related to substance use and chronic disease prevention. Dr. Schmidt leverages strong qualitative and quantitative skills to design and conduct implementation and evaluation research—including designing methods and instruments for surveys, in-depth interviews, and observational studies—to describe implementation and quantify health impacts of interventions and policies in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior change.

Currently, Dr. Schmidt leads tobacco control policy evaluation studies and related work for the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), and leads, as Associate Project Director, a 5-year evaluation of New York State's Tobacco Control Program.

Prior to joining RTI, Dr. Schmidt developed and evaluated digital health tools and interventions designed to prevent substance use and promote safe driving, healthy eating, and physical activity as a Research Scientist at innovation Research & Training (iRT). As a doctoral student, Dr. Schmidt was a Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) fellow at UNC Chapel Hill, funded by FDA and NIH, where she studied public perceptions of tobacco control policy and perceived credibility of FDA as a source of tobacco control messages.