Dr. Carol Schmitt has over 20 years of experience in policy research and evaluation at local, state, and federal levels. Her policy advocacy research integrates qualitative and quantitative data to help programs focus and evaluate their policy activities and impacts. Many foundations and public health programs have leveraged Dr. Schmitt's research to frame policy change efforts, develop local grantee work plans, and develop and implement process and outcome measures focused on program improvement.
As Chief Scientist, Dr. Schmitt acts as a senior scientific advisor to the Bureau of Tobacco-Free Florida’s community evaluation. In this role, she leads an exploratory, mixed-methods analysis of excess mortality rates and public health programming in the I-10 corridor, a primarily rural area of the state with chronic provider shortages. Dr. Schmitt is also the substance area expert for RTI’s evaluation of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) research portfolio. In addition, she advises on the historical component of tobacco regulation and the use of research in tobacco control regulation.
Since joining RTI in 2007, Dr. Schmitt has contributed to various evaluations and projects related to public health. She served as Co-Principal Investigator of the Culture of Health Sentinel Site Study project and as the Project Director and Senior Advisor for the Kansas Health Foundation Research and Evaluation Services, which evaluated the foundation’s investments from 2016 to 2020. In addition, she also served as Project Director for the Public Health Programs’ Evaluation, in which she developed evaluation plans for 16 public health programs being implemented in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Throughout her career, Dr. Schmitt has been committed to ensuring that her work leads insights into action through a focus on data visualization and the use of plain-language narratives.
