Daniel Friend

Daniel Friend is a researcher at Mathematica with expertise in leading and providing implementation studies, rapid-cycle evaluations, and technical assistance that support program evaluation and improvement. He works closely with federal, state, and local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and foundations to strengthen human services programs that serve children and families, particularly those experiencing poverty. He has clinical training and experience in marriage and family therapy, and family violence prevention and treatment.

Friend is the deputy project director of the project Strengthening the Implementation of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Programs, which aims to improve family and child well-being by enhancing the implementation of healthy marriage and relationship education programs. In this role, he supervises and implements rapid-cycle evaluations using the Learn, Innovate, Improve framework; conducts literature and document reviews; oversees expert and stakeholder engagement and other project activities that allow grantees to make evidence-based decisions about program improvement. Friend also serves as the principal investigator for the Agape 2-Gen Program Evaluation; Agape 2-Gen is a community-based program that provides families in Memphis, Tennessee, with a range of educational, employment, and social services. In addition to these research roles, Friend leads evaluation and implementation studies and provides technical assistance, data collection, and analysis services in support of several responsible fatherhood, healthy marriage, and other human services programs.

Before joining Mathematica, Friend worked as a project supervisor for a randomized controlled trial at the Relationship Research Institute that examined the efficacy of a psychoeducational workshop designed to reduce intimate partner violence in couples with low income. He also implemented a study examining physical and sexual violence victimization and perpetration in college-aged men. He has also conducted medical research providing methodological and statistical support to an eye bank researching corneal transplantation techniques.

Friend holds a Ph.D. in public health, community health sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an M.S. and B.S. in psychology from the University of Oregon.