Dr. Tilda Farhat directs the Office of Science Policy, Planning, Evaluation, and Reporting (OSPPER). The Office collaboratively leads science planning and analysis to identify scientific gaps, recommend research opportunities and facilitate data-informed decision-making to promote minority health and health disparities research. Prior to taking on this role, she served as the lead for Data, Analytics, and Evaluation.

Dr. Farhat came to NIMHD from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where, as a Program Director at the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD), she managed a portfolio of biomedical and behavioral research programs designed to reduce disparities in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. She also provided expertise in monitoring and evaluation of CRCHD program performance and effectiveness in addressing cancer health disparities. In her prior research position at the Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), she examined social and behavioral determinants of adolescent and young adult (AYA) health in the US and internationally.

Dr. Farhat’s research and areas of interest focus on behavioral and social epidemiology, as well as intervention research for behavior change, through a socio-ecological and developmental perspective. Her public health programmatic and research experience ranges from conducting national population-based surveillance and cohort studies examining multilevel influences on health and health disparities to developing and evaluating interventions to improve health.

Dr. Farhat has a Ph.D. in health behavior from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and completed a fellowship in population studies at UNC’s Carolina Population Center. She also earned certificates in international development (UNC) and population policy communication (Population Reference Bureau). Dr. Farhat has an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics and a B.S. in environmental health from the American University of Beirut.