Rebecca Spicer, MPH, PhD, Public Health, Health Policy & Management
Research Scientist
Center for Public Health Improvement and Innovation
Calverton, Maryland

Phone: (301) 755-2732
Fax: (301) 755-2799
Email: spicer@pire.org


Dr. Rebecca Spicer has been at Pacific Institute since 1995. As a classically trained epidemiologist, Dr. Spicer’s areas of expertise include program and policy evaluation, cost analysis, study design, and surveillance design and evaluation. Dr. Spicer has published extensively in the fields of substance abuse prevention and injury control. Programs and policies evaluated include graduated driver licensing, motorcycle helmet laws, child safety seat laws, drunk driving zero tolerance laws, federally-mandated random alcohol testing, and other more general injury prevention programs such as the Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program and a workplace substance abuse prevention program. Dr. Spicer has made significant contributions to the crash costing efforts of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). She recently updated the method for determining quality of life impacts resulting from traffic-related injuries for NHTSA for use in federal regulatory analyses. Currently Dr. Spicer is the principal investigator in an evaluation of a workplace program to prevent substance abuse among young transportation workers. The project examines the program’s impact on workplace performance outcomes, including injuries. Previous research by Dr. Spicer has contributed to our understanding of the relationship between occupational injury and drug and alcohol abuse. Dr. Spicer has a special interest in international health. She has lived and worked in many countries, including Thailand. At the Thai Ministry of Public Health she contributed to injury prevention research projects and collaborated with a large public hospital to analyze who ultimately pays the medical costs resulting from road traffic injuries. Dr. Spicer received her PhD (Health Policy and Management) and Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Before her career in public health she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia and Gabon. She currently lives in Istanbul, Turkey.