Debra R. Hrouda, MSSA ('94), LISW-S, is director of quality improvement at the Center for Evidence-Based Practices (CEBP) at Case Western Reserve University, where she conducts research and evaluation for many of the Center's projects, including its two Ohio Coordinating Center of Excellence (CCOE) initiatives. Her work focuses upon evidence-based practices, emerging best practices, and other strategies that improve quality of life and other outcomes for people with mental illness and substance use disorders, including the following:
Ms. Hrouda is also project lead for Tobacco Recovery Across the Continuum, which is a stage-based motivational model that supports tobacco cessation among people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders. Research shows that people with these conditions consume a disproportionate number of tobacco products and die, on average, 25 years earlier than people in the general population, often as a result of diseases related to tobacco use.
Ms. Hrouda has more than 20 years of experience in both research and practice, with a focus upon the experiences of people with severe and persistent mental illnesses, including those who are dually diagnosed with substance use disorders and those in the criminal-justice system. In her practice experiences, she has provided and managed case-management services and managed a partial-hospitalization program in community mental-health organizations. She earned a Master of Social Science Administration in 1994 from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland and is an adjunct instructor and a doctoral candidate there. She is also a part-time instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Her doctoral research examines facilitators and barriers to treatment for incarcerated women with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders. 
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