Hope Smiley-McDonald

Hope Smiley-McDonald is a senior research sociologist who directs RTI’s Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application. She is the project director for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System and for the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices.

She has examined and published in the areas of drug case processing, investigative efficiencies, and infrastructure needs across the forensic community. She has led studies examining law enforcement overdose response and evaluations of substance use treatment programs, and has published in the areas of drug surveillance, drug courts, offender health and mental health, inmate mortality, and women and substance abuse. She has employed both quantitative and qualitative methods in her research, designed studies, developed survey instruments, directed large national data collections targeting forensic, law enforcement, and correctional agencies, analyzed data, and disseminated findings in criminological, forensic, and public health outlets.