Carole Tracy Orleans, PhD

Appointed to Task Force: 2009

Carole Tracy Orleans, PhD has been the senior scientist for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) since 1998, and was named RWJF's first distinguished fellow in 2006.

Dr. Orleans was recruited to the Foundation's professional staff in 1995 to help develop and lead research initiatives to identify effective population-based health promotion and disease prevention interventions -- with a focus on policy and environmental approaches for use in communities, health care systems, and public health organizations and agencies. Dr. Orleans' work has advanced RWJF's public policy and healthcare system-based research grant-making in the areas of tobacco control, physical activity, diet, substance abuse prevention and treatment, chronic disease prevention and management, and childhood obesity prevention. She has overseen a broad portfolio of research grants, initiatives competitive national research programs including: Active Living Research, Addressing Tobacco in Managed Care, Bridging the Gap (youth tobacco/substance use prevention), Healthy Eating Research, Improving Chronic Illness Care, Substance Abuse Policy Research, and Prescription for Health (multiple risk health behavior change in primary care). She also has directed several RWJF program evaluations (e.g., Health e.Technologies, Reducing Underage Drinking through Coalitions, SmokeLess States) and designed and overseen numerous initiatives to translate evidence-based prevention approaches into policy and practice.

A clinical health psychologist, Dr. Orleans has authored or co-authored more than 225 publications, served on numerous journal editorial boards, national scientific panels and advisory groups (e.g., Institute of Medicine, National Commission on Prevention Priorities, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force) and as president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. In her role as RWJF senior scientist, she has been a founding member of several national research “collaboratives” to help coordinate and strengthen the public health impact of leading tobacco control and childhood obesity prevention research, practice and policy funders (e.g., CDC, NIH, USDA, Legacy Foundation). The National research Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) received one of three 2010 DHHS Secretary's Inaugural Innovation Awards.

Dr. Orleans received her BA in psychology summa cum laude from Wellesley College, and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, with a clinical internship at Duke University Medical Center.

Service on international/national research, practice or policy boards or committees

• Member, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
• Member, Cessation Subcommittee, Surgeon General's Inter-Agency Committee on Smoking and Health
• Member, Institute of Medicine Committee: Identifying Priority Areas for Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Member, National Commission on Prevention Priorities
• Member, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Tobacco Control Clinical Practice Guideline Panel
• Member, Partnership for Prevention Expert Panel on Worksite Wellness and Chronic Disease Management
• Member, National Cancer Institute Advisory Committees: Working Well Study; Tobacco Research Implementation Group; Behavioral Science Research Division; NCI-funded Cancer Control Research Network
• Founding Member/Co-Chair, National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit
• Founding Member, National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative; Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative; National Tobacco Funders Forum; National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Prevention Research