Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup DHSc, MSc, MA

Dr. Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup is the Research Director of Real-World Evidence (RWE) at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy in Washington, DC, strategically leading and managing the Institute's RWE Collaborative and RWE policy research portfolio and education. As a nationally and internationally recognized engagement expert, biomedical researcher, bioethicist, and policy practitioner, her work explores and directly addresses key regulatory and implementation science issues and ethical, legal, & social implications (ELSI) at the intersection of health policy and innovation.

As an active collaborator with Duke University faculty, scholars, students, and external practicing experts to advance the Institute's biomedical innovation work. She received a Duke-Margolis Mentor Award in 2023 and led groundbreaking work within the Institute's RWE Collaborative (the International Harmonization of RWE Standards Dashboard) that resulted in the receipt of a 2024 Innovation Award from the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the United States Food and Drug Administration. As a highly ranked scholar in personalized medicine, she has authored numerous original research papers, brief reports, blogs, commentaries, and perspectives in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals and has presented work at several national and international scientific conferences. Read her work here.

Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup presently serves on the Board of Directors for Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Steering Committee, and Program Committee (including Co-Chair) for the Drug Information Association (DIA)’s annual RWE Conference. She is a Voluntary Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics and Health Data Science at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and an active member of the Center for Precision Health within the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Sage Open Pathology, Associate Editor for Frontiers in Genetics (ELSI in Science and Genetics), and Editorial Advisory Board Member for Frontiers Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Before joining Duke-Margolis, Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup served as Health Policy Counsel and Lead at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), leading the organization's health and genetic data initiatives and workgroup. Prior to FPF, she worked in several administrative and scientific roles at various industry, health care, academic, and government research institutions. Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup is also an accomplished health science journalist, having completed a comparative effectiveness research fellowship with the Association of Health Care Journalists in 2017 at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in Washington, DC. Some of her other notable professional work includes serving as an executive leader at the National Alliance Against Disparities in Patient Health (NADPH) from 2020-2024 and as a 2024 AcademyHealth Trust Scholar.

Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup's past educational work at Duke University includes leading a 2023-2024 Bass Connections course on Bioethics and the Use of Mental Health Real-World Data. Outside of Duke University, she served as adjunct faculty at Ohio University, teaching graduate courses in the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Science's Health Policy Certificate program from 2018-2024. She also taught graduate courses within the Masters of Health Care Innovation program at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine from 2019-2024. 

Dr. Hendricks-Sturrup holds the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Biology (minor in philosophy, honor distinction) from Chicago State University, Master’s in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Michigan State University, Master’s in Legal Studies from the University of Illinois, and Doctor of Health Science from Nova Southeastern University. She completed a predoctoral internship with the National Health Service in London, UK, and postdoctoral research training within the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School.