Stephanie Freel, PhD, PMP, is the Director of Clinical Research Operations, Education and Outreach in the Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR) and Interim Director of Strategy and Innovation in the Duke Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI).
Dr. Freel leads the Duke Workforce Engagement and Resilience (WE-R) Initiatives, which include: clinical research job classification; hiring optimization; standardized onboarding and continuing education; apprenticeship, internship, and career pathways development; and clinical research professionalism and engagement.
She serves as the Duke liaison for the national Clinical Research Professionals Taskforce, the international Partners Advancing the Clinical Research Workforce, the NC Biotech CRO collaborative, and the national Consortium of Academic Programs in Clinical Research.
During her career, she has served as inaugural director for two Duke central offices, a research clinic, and a clinical research service center, establishing operating processes for the Duke Office of Faculty Mentoring (2012), the Duke Office of Physician-Scientist Development (2018), the Duke Research @ Pickett clinic (2020), and the DOCR Service Center (2021). She remains a collaborator and course instructor with the Duke MERITS (Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Translational Science) and the Duke Master of Biomedical Sciences programs.
Prior to her work in research administration, Dr. Freel investigated the impact of CD8+T cell responses on HIV-1 replication and evolution during acute infection in the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and at Trimeris,Inc.