Gillian Sanders Schmidler, PhD, joins Duke-Margolis as Deputy Director, Academics. In this role she will guide and help develop our academic research activities, oversee research proposal development, help us recruit, retain and develop high-potential research faculty, and oversee and support the expanding education programs for the Center. She will work with our affiliated faculty to ensure strong mentorship of junior faculty, graduate students and fellows, as well as work to increase research collaboration and communication.
Dr. Sanders Schmidler has a distinguished record of scholarly achievement. Her research has focused on transparent and rigorous methods for synthesizing evidence on the comparative effectiveness of treatments, practices, and policies; and she has extensive applied research experience on strategies to inform and improve decision making and health policy. She has sustained a broad grant portfolio to support this work, serving as Principal Investigator on 38 research projects funded through both public and private sources. Her work has resulted in more than 140 publications in major peer-reviewed journals. She has extensive faculty leadership experience at Duke and in professional organizations, including as President of the Society for Medical Decision Making. At DCRI, she is Director of the Evidence Synthesis Group, is an elected member of the Faculty Council, leads the Women Faculty/Fellows group, and has participated in university-wide programs for academic leaders. In addition to leading research and management activities, she has great experience and commitment to mentoring faculty, graduate students and fellows, and to improving education. She has been a leading faculty supporter and contributor in the early days of Duke-Margolis.
As Deputy Director, Academics, her expertise will complement Greg Daniel, PhD, MPH, in his leadership role as Deputy Director, Policy. As our state, national, and global work to support policy analysis and implementation expands, Dr. Daniel will be able to devote more effort to supporting these activities. He will continue to oversee daily operations, staff and resources in the Duke DC offices and will also devote new effort to enhancing our efforts in external engagement, supporting implementation of the Center’s work, and informing and engaging policymakers in both the public and private sectors. Dr. Daniel will also continue to oversee a robust portfolio of policy research in biomedical innovation and evidence development. All this work will benefit from his extensive policy experience and network, and his distinguished track record in policy convening and stakeholder engagement. Because our work spans the space from research to policy implementation, Dr. Sanders Schmidler and Dr. Daniel will collaborate on supporting and overseeing research budgets and business development.