William N. Dowd

William Dowd is a research economist who uses data from surveys, health claims, and other administrative sources to estimate the effects of policies and interventions using econometric methods. He also conducts economic evaluations, including cost, cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and return on investment analyses, often with the use of simulation modeling techniques.

Mr. Dowd joined RTI in 2009, and most of his work focuses on behavioral health, with a particular emphasis on alcohol and opioid use disorders. Recently, Mr. Dowd has contributed to two large-scale modeling projects to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness of alcohol treatment and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the NIDA HEALing Communities Study. Previously, he led the economic evaluation for the third cross-site evaluation of SAMHSA’s Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral Treatment program and has used causal inference methods to estimate the effects of various policies, such as the reformulation of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, policies related to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment for pregnant women, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Section 1115 SUD Demonstration.