Sunita Patil joined the myRESEARCHnavigators team in January 2017 and began leading the team in 2020.  She has worked in various capacities during the 15 years of her service in the field of Clinical Research. As a navigator she helps Duke faculty, residents, fellows and students to find resolutions to any questions related to clinical research, connect the investigators to the resources at Duke and facilitate research collaborations.  She leads efforts to onboard newly appointed faculty and faculty that are new to Duke. Sunita is also responsible for assisting in several broad efforts at the institution to coordinate proactive services to ensure that research teams are successful in starting and conducting their research.

Dennis joined the team in January 2022, focusing on guiding, orienting, and connecting investigators to the vast research resources available at Duke, as well as assisting in the Intent to Submit process and protocol development. His career in clinical and public health research has spanned 15 years. He previously served as a Clinical Research Coordinator and later as Assistant Research Practice Manager at the Duke Cancer Institute. He has also served in a variety of other research roles at Duke over a decade. He earned a BA in Psychology from the State University of New York at New Paltz and an MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  

Kristine coordinates programming for a number of groups in the Duke Office of Research Initiatives, including Research Navigators, and Researcher Consultation & Onboarding. However, she dedicates most of her effort to developing and launching programs related to Team Science within the Clinical & Translational Science Institute. Kristine’s background consists of formal training in developmental biology and professional experiences in education, community health, program coordination, marketing, and communications. Through these diverse experiences, she has developed a passion for identifying creative and engaging tools to facilitate and promote scientific research and innovation. Kristine holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of California, Irvine.

Bringing experience from a diverse administrative background, Fay joined the research team at Duke in late 2022 to support both the Duke Office of Research Initiatives and the Office of Research Administration. She will be helping both DORI and ORA improve process effectiveness, reduce institutional risk, and optimize the usability of Duke research process assistance resources. Fay received her BA in Cultural Anthropology from Duke in 2008 and is excited to be back at the University in a professional capacity.

Alicia joined the DORI team in January 2022, where she manages the Duke Research Funding website and related communications. She focuses on helping researchers (faculty, staff, and graduate students) find funding for their research projects and promoting funding search tools for the Duke community. Previously she worked as the Funding Opportunities Specialist in Duke’s Office of Research Support. She holds a BA in History/Comparative Literature/Jewish Studies from Penn State University, an MA in Religion from Duke University, and a Masters in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Nancy joined the Office of Research & Innovation in January, 2023 as the Program Director for Protected Research Support and Compliance. In this role, she provides guidance to researchers on use/storage of protected data and liaises with various institutional offices (IRB, ITSO, ORS) to assist in data acquisition and management.  Nancy has 20 years of experience at Duke in various roles, most recently as the Research Practice Manager for Population Health Sciences and with the SSRI BARU team.  Nancy is skilled at process implementation, helping researchers navigate research data policy, and streamlining access to research data, while appropriately managing issues associated with compliance.