Gary Bennett PhD

Gary Bennett

Core Faculty

Gary Bennett, PhD

Focus Areas
Degrees

PhD, Duke University

MA, Duke University

BA, Morehouse College

Gary G. Bennett is the Bishop-MacDermott Family Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience, Global Health, and Medicine at Duke University and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. He directs Duke’s Global Digital Health Science Center (Duke Digital Health), which leverages digital health technologies to improve health outcomes in medically vulnerable populations. Dr. Bennett also leads the Duke Obesity Prevention Program and holds an appointment in the Duke Cancer Institute.

Dr. Bennett’s research program designs, tests, and disseminates digital health obesity treatments for primary care settings that serve medically vulnerable populations.  Dr. Bennett developed the interactive obesity treatment approach (iOTA), which has been evaluated in several trials, both domestically and abroad. His recent work has demonstrated the effectiveness of coach-led, digital health weight loss and hypertension control interventions delivered via web, smartphone, and interactive voice response systems. His recent intervention trials in medically vulnerable communities have been the focus of numerous invited addresses for professional and lay audiences alike. He has authored more than 125 scientific papers in the past decade and his research program has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Bennett has served on numerous NIH committees, grant review panels, editorial boards, and guidelines councils. Dr. Bennett is committed to the dissemination of evidence-based treatments; he serves on science advisory and executive boards of several community, professional, and commercial organizations. He also co-founded two digital health startups: Crimson Health Solutions (acquired by Health Dialog in 2007) and Scale Down. Prior to joining Duke in 2009, Dr. Bennett served on the faculties of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Bennett earned a bachelor's degree at Morehouse College, followed by doctoral studies in clinical health psychology at Duke University, a clinical psychology internship at Duke University Medical Center and postdoctoral studies in social epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Miller HN, Askew S, Berger MB, Kay MC, Palipana A, Trefney E, et al. Effects of a Digital Intervention to Improve DASH and Blood Pressure Among US Adults. Hypertension. 2025 Feb;82(2):370–81.

Miller HN, Gallis JA, Berger MB, Askew S, Egger JR, Kay MC, et al. Correction: Weight Gain Prevention Outcomes From a Pragmatic Digital Health Intervention With Community Health Center Patients: Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2024 May 13;26:e60137.

Miller HN, Askew S, Berger MB, Trefney E, Blackman Carr LT, Kay MC, et al. Sociodemographic predictors of successful screening and subsequent randomization in a digital health hypertension intervention. Digit Health. 2024;10:20552076241281216.