Dr. Gierisch is a behavioral scientist and health services researcher. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences and the Department of Medicine at Duke University. She is a core investigator with the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) where she serves as the leader of the Stakeholder Engagement Core and Director of the VA OAA Health Services Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Gierisch is also the Co-Director of the Evidence Synthesis Program (VA ESP) at the Durham Veteran Affairs Health Care System and Co-Director of the Duke Clinical Translational Science Institute's Community Engaged Research Initiative (CeRi).
Dr. Gierisch’s research focuses on three overarching areas: 1) behavioral research on the psychosocial factors that influence appropriate uptake and maintenance of complex health behaviors (eg., weight management, smoking cessation, cancer screening); 2) evidence synthesis on key health and healthcare topics to enhance uptake of evidence-based interventions to improve patient and health system outcomes; and 3) stakeholder and community engagement in the research enterprise.