Get Updates
Barbara L. Devaney
Senior Vice President; Director, Human Services Research Division
Senior vice president Barbara Devaney is a nationally recognized expert in maternal and child health, nutrition, and risk-reduction programs for youth. She has played a leading role in many of Mathematica’s studies of family formation, children’s nutrition, and public health programs.
Devaney is also director of the firm's Human Services Research Division. She is co-director of Mathematica’s Building Strong Families study and served as principal investigator for the firm’s evaluation of abstinence education programs, which received the 2009 Outstanding Evaluation Award from the American Evaluation Association. She also oversaw Mathematica’s 2002 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study, which provided detailed information on the food and nutrient intakes of U.S. infants and toddlers.
Other evaluations in which she has played a key role have focused on the school lunch and breakfast programs; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and the Food Stamp Program. A long-term employee of the firm, she was previously an assistant professor at Duke University and the Johns Hopkins University.
Devaney has served on scientific committees convened by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. She publishes widely in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and the American Journal of Public Health. She also presents findings at conferences of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. She has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.
Less Detail More DetailStaff Profile
- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Professional Activities
- Publications
- Maternal and child health
- Nutrition
- Risk-reduction programs for youth
- National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Planning Committee for a Workshop on a WIC Research Agenda
- National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages
- National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Subcommittee on Interpretation and Uses of the Dietary Reference Intakes
- National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Committee on Scientific Evaluation of WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria
- "15-Month Impacts of Oklahoma's Family Expectations Program" (August 2010)
- "The Truncation-by-Death Problem: What to Do in an Experimental Evaluation When the Outcome Is Not Always Defined." Evaluation Review (April 2008)
- "Impacts of Abstinence Education on Teen Sexual Activity, Risk of Pregnancy, and Risk of Sexually Transmitted Diseases." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (spring 2008)