Debra W. Moore, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, where she also serves as Senior Director of Research and Evaluation for the Implementation and Research Center for Healthy Communities (IRC). A quantitative methodologist by training, she has spent more than 20 years bridging the gap between technical research methods and real-world program implementation bringing rigorous measurement science to work in communities and populations where rigor is most needed.
At IRC, Dr. Moore leads a team of specialists designing and implementing mixed-methods evaluation plans across a portfolio of multiple public health initiatives focused on substance use disorder prevention and recovery, and suicide prevention, with particular emphasis on rural and underserved communities. She has secured more than $40 million in external funding across 25+ federal, state, and foundation awards from agencies such as SAMHSA, HRSA, and CDC.
Her research focuses on three interconnected areas: advancing the application of implementation science frameworks to understand how evidence-based programs are adopted, adapted, and sustained in under-resourced community settings, applying psychometric methods to the study of stigma and community-level attitude change, and advancing community-based participatory approaches to evaluation design, ensuring that communities have meaningful input into what gets measured.
Prior to joining IRC, Dr. Moore spearheaded the five-year digital redesign of Pennsylvania's statewide alternate assessment system for students with significant cognitive disabilities. In that role, she developed the assessment’s psychometric infrastructure from the ground up and implemented validity studies that secured a successful federal peer review. Earlier in her career, she contributed psychometric expertise to NSF- and IES-funded educational research at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center and developed an outcomes-based curricular framework for the University of Pittsburgh's Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
A former National Board of Professional Teaching Standards-certified music teacher, Dr. Moore teaches university courses in research methodology and applied statistics, mentors emerging researchers, and serves on dissertation and thesis committees across the university.
Education & Training
BMEd, MA, PhD
