The Duke Kannapolis team manages a wide variety of research projects focusing on the exploration, discovery, and validation of biomarkers that will inform a deeper understanding of health and disease.
Contact our team directly by calling 704-273-5456 or emailing transpop@duke.edu.
Directory
Mr. Liu is a software developer who grew up in China and moved to the Triangle area in 1997. He received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Hua-zhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, and has a master’s degree in accounting. He came to the Duke Kannapolis team from the Duke Department of Psychiatry, where he worked over 15 years and contributed to the development of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) software focusing on mental health.
Deborah Meylor
Debbie Meylor joined the Duke CTSI in February 2012. She supports several cohort studies. Ms. Meylor also brings skills in phlebotomy and sample collection, as well as bilingual abilities allowing her to work both with Spanish-speaking and English-speaking participants.
A native of Puerto Rico, she relocated to New York at an early age. After graduation, she had the opportunity to work as a specimen technician and soon became interested in medicine and helping others. She returned to school, trained in phlebotomy, and then learned about Duke’s work in Kannapolis.
Born in Argentina and now a resident of Concord, N.C. Ms. Plez joined Duke CTSI in January 2010. As the Research Project Leader for Community Engagement, Ms. Plez supports translational population health research efforts in Kannapolis by informing, recruiting, and enrolling the Hispanic population in the area. She previously worked as a teacher and translator in both Argentina and the United States after graduating from UM University in Buenos Aires with a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages.
Pilar Roa serves as a bilingual clinical research coordinator for the OneDukeGen study. She brings to the CTSI 12 years of experience in clinical research including participant recruitment and retention, conducting industry sponsored trials, quality assurance, and innovative community engagement. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Ms. Roa is passionate about fostering diversity in clinical trials, striving to ensure clinical research reflects real-world populations.
Cheryl Robinson
Cheryl Robinson joined Duke CTSI as a Research Aide and is now a Clinical Research Specialist with the Duke Kannapolis group in Durham, N.C. She spent just over five years serving in the U.S. Navy boot camp in Orlando, Fla. and the Naval Operations Base in Norfolk, Va. to begin courses in underwater sound surveillance. Her advanced training took her to Eureka, Calif. and her career as an Ocean Systems Technician officially began at the base in Dam Neck, Va.
Ms. Rockett has been with Duke since February of 2012. With a bachelor’s degree in biology, Ms. Rockett serves as a clinical research coordinator, providing clinical help for many different studies, as well as regulatory oversight, staff training and maintenance on specific protocols, data collection and miscellaneous support to faculty as needed.
Ms. Rockett enjoys having the opportunity to introduce people to important research underway in Cabarrus County. When not working, Ms. Rockett enjoys spending time with her husband and young son.
Dr. Svati H. Shah, a physician-scientist, is the Ursula Geller Distinguished Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Diseases, associate dean for translational research, and director of the Duke Center for Precision Health and the Precision Genomics Collaboratory in the Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Shah is the vice-chief of translational research and director of the Adult Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine.
Dr. Singh joined Duke Kannapolis in July 2014 as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She has a Master's degree in Clinical Research, a Doctorate of Medicine, and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional. Before coming to Duke, Dr. Singh worked for the Data Coordination Center at the Medical University of South Carolina as Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for several National Institutes of Health studies and the Lupus Registry.
Doug Wixted (he/him/his) leads biorepository and data management for Duke Kannapolis, as well as research studies and strategic initiatives. His work centers around informatics, efficient and scalable infrastructure, and maximizing data quality and value. He has worked as part of Duke Kannapolis for more than 10 years, starting initially in 2011 and again in 2014 after a year at Quintiles (IQVIA), a global life science services firm headquartered in Research Triangle Park.
Douglas Wixted, MMCI
Doug Wixted (he/him/his) is the interim strategic and operational leader for the CTSI Center for Precision Health (CPH). In this role, he supports the faculty director in CPH’s mission to harness the power of genomic, biomarker and health data to transform patient care and population health.