Denise Dougherty, Ph.D.

Denise is an AcademyHealth Senior Scholar in Residence and Board Member of Adolescents and Children and Together for Health (ACT for Health).  Currently, she participates with AcademyHealth, ACT for Health, and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in work to develop Policy and Action on Teen Mental Health Crises, and will soon be working on an effort to enhance the emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing of high-school-aged adolescents in the U.S.  Denise is also active in AcademyHealth’s Methods and Data Council and its Child Health Services Research Interest Group.  Until July 2015, Denise was the Senior Advisor for Child Health and Quality Improvement at the USDHHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. At AHRQ, she led the initiative to identify a core measure set of valid and reliable pediatric healthcare quality measures and developed scientific publications based on that work. In addition, Denise participated in multiple cross-HHS initiatives, including newborn screening, perinatal health, and implementation science.  Prior to her move to HHS, she led several efforts for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, including blood policy and technology, Indian healthcare, polygraph testing, healthcare quality, healthcare reform, adolescent health, children’s mental health.