Rebecca Stewart, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor at the Penn Center for Mental Health. Dr. Stewart studies why substance use and mental health treatment agencies don’t adopt evidence-based practices (EBPs), with the goal of identifying and testing strategies to increase adoption and enhance implementation. Dr. Stewart uses qualitative and quantitative methods to study these issues. Currently, she has a K23 from NIDA to examine agency responses to the Philadelphia 2020 mandate that substance use organizations must be able to provide medication-assisted treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder.
Dr. Stewart is also interested in the effects of financial and other incentives to increase the use of EBPs in the community. In partnership with Community Behavioral Health, the Medicaid payer for behavioral health services in Philadelphia, she has evaluated several novel services and payment models intended to improve access to care.
She has previously conducted NIMH-funded work to both investigate the payer role and examine provider and practitioner attitudes towards the implementation of EBPs in the public and private sectors.
She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.
