Adrian Hernandez, MD, has been named the new vice dean for clinical research for the Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Hernandez will begin his service as vice dean on September 5, 2017.
As vice dean for clinical research, Dr. Hernandez will have direct responsibility for advancing the clinical research mission of the School of Medicine. The School of Medicine has one of the largest clinical research portfolios in the country among medical schools. Dr. Hernandez will work with leaders in single and multi-site based human research, patient care delivery, information technology, and health data science within School of Medicine departments, and centers and institutes including the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and Margolis Center for Health Policy, in order to achieve the vision of advancing health and executing a coordinated strategy in clinical research to evolve the model of care and improve outcomes. He will oversee the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Duke Health, the Duke Office of Clinical Research, the Office of Regulatory Affairs & Quality, and the Research Integrity Office.
Dr. Hernandez is a professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology. He currently serves as director of Health Services and Outcomes Research and is a faculty associate director of the DCRI. Dr. Hernandez has extensive experience in clinical research ranging from clinical trials to outcomes and health services research. He leads research programs focused on understanding population health, generating real-world evidence, and improving patient-centered outcomes through development of new therapies and better care delivery in the national health system. Dr. Hernandez is the coordinating center principal investigator for multiple networks and clinical trials such as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Heart Failure Clinical Research Network, PCORI’s National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) and the NIH’s Health System Collaboratory. A central aim of these networks is to transform clinical research by uniting patients, clinicians, health systems, and electronic health data to improve population health and decision making. Dr. Hernandez has over 450 published articles in top peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Lancet.
Dr. Hernandez received his medical degree from the University of Texas-Southwestern at Dallas and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, before completing a fellowship in cardiology at Duke University. In 2004, Dr. Hernandez joined the Duke faculty as an assistant professor.
As part of this new clinical research leadership team, Geeta Swamy, MD, associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, and associate dean for Regulatory Oversight & Research Initiatives in Clinical Research, was promoted to senior associate dean. In addition to her current duties as leader of the IRB, the Office of Regulatory Affairs & Quality, and the Research Integrity Office, Dr. Swamy will now have leadership responsibilities over the Advancing Scientific Integrity, Services and Training Office (ASIST), working with Marcella Sarzotti-Kelsoe, PhD.
Dr. Swamy is a highly accomplished clinician-scientist specializing in perinatal infection and maternal immunization. She is the principal investigator on numerous grants from the NIH, CDC, and other funding sources and has published more than 100 articles. She has served on numerous advisory boards involving the conduct and ethics of research in pregnant women and other vulnerable populations including the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Dr. Swamy received her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh and a fellowship in maternal and fetal medicine at Duke University.