Several team members have taken on new roles with the Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The institute congratulates these team members and recognizes their commitment to advancing clinical and translational science at Duke.
Stephanie Freel, PhD, PMP, has transitioned from interim director to director of strategy and innovation at the CTSI. In this role, she provides strategic operational leadership to advance CTSI priorities across Duke’s clinical and translational research enterprise, including supporting efforts to diversify CTSI funding and strengthen institutional effectiveness. She also builds networks and collaborations that accelerate key scientific and workforce priorities. In addition to her CTSI leadership, she serves as director of clinical research operations, education, and outreach in the Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR), where she leads the Durham Early College of Health Sciences (DECHS) clinical research professional work-based learning program, the Workforce Engagement and Resilience (WER) initiatives, and collaborates with the CTSI workforce development team. Freel’s career spans scientific discovery, program development, and the establishment of several Duke central offices and clinical research units, which has positioned her to drive innovative, sustainable strategies that support CTSI’s mission and long-term impact.
Kimberly S. Johnson, MD, MHS, serves as chief health disparities research officer for CTSI, where she provides strategic leadership to integrate health disparities research priorities across CTSI programs. In this role, she works in close partnership with CTSI teams to ensure that the institute’s research, training, and community-engaged activities address and improve health and care outcomes across all populations. She also serves as the multiple principal investigator (MPI) of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), where she contributes to the workforce development and community-engaged research modules. A committed mentor and the Brenda E. Armstrong MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Duke Palliative Care and a senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University Medical Center, Johnson is nationally recognized for her research focused on understanding and eliminating disparities in hospice and palliative care for seriously ill older adults.
Chris Lindsell, PhD, serves as lead of CTSI’s Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (BIDS) pillar, supporting biostatistics, biomedical informatics, and data science programs at the CTSI. For over 25 years, he has conducted clinical and translational research and has experience in the design, analysis, implementation, and dissemination of observational and interventional research, single site and multi-site studies, and mechanistic and epidemiological studies. He has led data coordinating centers for multi-center, FDA-regulated clinical trials and holds patents for algorithmic risk stratification in sepsis and septic shock. His experience spans the full range of settings from the lab to the bedside, and from inpatient to outpatient to the community. His primary passion is modernizing the clinical evidence generation system.
Doug Wixted, MMCi, serves as managing director of the Center for Precision Health, where he provides strategic leadership for the center’s mission to harness genomic, biomarker, and health data to transform patient care and improve population health. In this role, Wixted partners closely with faculty leaders, clinicians, and institutional stakeholders to build scalable research programs, align precision health efforts with organizational priorities, and empower program and project teams to deliver innovative, high-value science. His leadership emphasizes sustainable infrastructure, data integration, and collaborative models that enable impact at scale. He earned a Master of Management in Clinical Informatics from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University, with a concentration in biotechnology.
Kanecia Zimmerman, MD, PhD, MPH, serves as faculty lead of the Community Connections for Health Translation (CCHT) pillar of the CTSI. In this role, Zimmerman brings expertise in clinical trials and patient, family, and community engagement in research. She developed the Pediatric Trial Network’s program of participant and family engagement and return of results program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped lead the creation of the ABC Science Collaborative to pair physicians and scientists with school and community leaders across the U.S. to address concerns. She continues to work with rural NC K-12 school communities to co-create programs that leverage community assets and meet student and family needs. Her work is funded by the NIH, FDA, DOE, and private foundations. Zimmerman is the Wilburt C. Davison Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics. She also serves as co-lead of the Community Engagement module of the newly awarded CTSA grant.