Debra Rog

Dr. Debra Rog, a Westat Vice President and President of its nonprofit affiliate, the Rockville Institute, has over 30 years of experience in research and evaluation involving homelessness. Her current work in homelessness includes serving as the principal investigator of several studies, including an evaluation of a ten year systems initiative in three counties in Washington State for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an evaluation of HUD’s multisite Youth Homelessness Demonstration Initiative, and two process evaluations of rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles.  Recently completed work on homelessness involves a multisite evaluation of supportive housing for families, also in Washington State, as well as an examination of the trends in family homelessness in Massachusetts. Prior to joining Westat in 2007, Dr. Rog directed the Washington office of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement (CEPI) for 17 years, where she led numerous national multisite evaluations of interventions and systems for homeless and vulnerable populations. Dr. Rog is a well-known and respected methodologist, specializing in mixed methods evaluation, evaluability assessment, and multi-site evaluation. She served as a co-editor of the Sage Publication Series on Applied Social Research Methods, and the Handbook for Social Research Methods. She has published extensively on homelessness, housing, and evaluation methodology. Dr. Rog currently serves on the Research Council of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is Associate Director and a faculty member of The Evaluators’ Institute, and was the 2009 president of the American Evaluation Association. She has been recognized for her evaluation work by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Evaluation Association, the Eastern Evaluation Research Society, and the Knowledge Utilization Society.  Between 1987 and 1989, she was Associate Director of the Office of Programs for the Homeless Mentally Ill, National Institute of Mental Health.