Adrienne Smith, Ph.D., M.S., C.H.E.S.

Director, Division of Policy and Performance Management

Adrienne M. Smith is the Director of the Division of Policy and Performance Management (DPPM) where she oversees activities focused on women's health policy, program evaluation, strategic planning, and performance reporting. With the OWH, Dr. Smith has been involved with initiatives primarily for minority women including the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts, two National Minority Women's Health Summits and the Health and Wellness Grant Initiative for Women Attending Minority Institutions. She also partnered with the HHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office on Trafficking in Persons to develop the SOAR (Stop. Observe. Ask. and Respond) to Human Trafficking Training for health care and social service professionals. Most notably she has established more than one hundred contracts supporting small minority, community- and faith-based organizations serving women and girls.

She started her 20+ year career in public health working with the Virginia Department of Health, Peninsula Health District as a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritionist and breastfeeding counselor. Prior to working at HHS, she was a research assistant with the District of Columbia Department of Health, State Center for Health Statistics. Adrienne completed her undergraduate studies at Norfolk State University (Dozoretz National Institute for Minorities in Applied Sciences--DNIMAS), and received a Master of Science Degree from Hampton University in Nutritional Science. In 2001, she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Public and Community Health from the University of Maryland at College Park, School of Public Health. Adrienne is also trained as a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).