Jody Schimmel Hyde's primary research interest is in policies to promote independence and self-sufficiency among people with disabilities, with a strong interest in both transition-age youth and adults nearing retirement. Her work covers policies related to employment and health care, with a particular focus on services and supports to assist federal disability beneficiaries. Schimmel Hyde has extensive experience conducting quantitative analyses using administrative data and nationally representative data sources, including the Health and Retirement Study, Survey of Income and Program Participation, Current Population Survey, and American Community Survey.
Schimmel Hyde is the deputy director of Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy, which provides actionable evidence to policymakers to inform decision making. She currently directs Mathematica’s efforts to build the annual Disability Analysis File (DAF) for the Social Security Administration (SSA), which aggregates administrative data across about one dozen sources into a research-ready file. She also currently works on the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Services project to design and test an intervention that provides employment-related services to special education students as they transition out of high school.
She has directed numerous investigator-initiated research studies through SSA’s Disability Research Consortium and Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC), as well through the Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation and Research Training Center funded by the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. In the past, she led studies as part of SSA's evaluation of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Planning and Assistance programs, as well as studies of the Medicaid Buy-In and Medicaid Infrastructure Grant programs for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Schimmel Hyde holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
The Social Security Administration’s efforts to collect information about beneficiaries and support their employment efforts demonstrates how data can improve our understanding of lived experiences and promote effective policies.
Learn MoreOur experts can help you make smart, sustainable decisions. From local to global challenges in health, human services, and international development, we’re here to improve public well-being and make progress together.
Work With Us