An Introduction to Research & Innovation at Duke

Christopher Freel, Ph.D., M.B.A., associate vice president for Research & Innovation, works closely with Vice President for Research & Innovation Jennifer Lodge, Ph.D., on issues related to sponsored research compliance and research administration support services. This includes the development and implementation of efficient and effective policies and systems to streamline research and promote discovery by removing institutional barriers.

Freel comes to the Office for Research & Innovation after several years as the Associate Vice Provost for Research and the former Assistant Dean for Basic Research in the Duke University School of Medicine. As an administrator, he has concentrated on representing the broad interests and needs of the research community and worked closely with the Research Administration Continuous Improvement (RACI) initiative, a body committed to improving Duke’s research support structure to better serve our faculty and researchers.

Freel earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Warren Wilson College and completed his doctoral studies in cell and developmental biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He conducted his postdoctoral training in the department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke, investigating the molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death, and has published manuscripts in a number of cancer-related fields. Most recently, Freel earned a Master of Business Administration from Duke's Fuqua School of Business.

As associate vice president, Freel is committed to assuring that the services and resources offered through research administration meet the needs of the research community across Duke schools, institutes and centers.

As associate vice president for Translation & Commercialization, Robin Rasor, M.S., oversees all functions of the tech transfer process at the University. Previously, Rasor was managing director of Licensing at the University of Michigan where she oversaw the licensing process ranging from management and marketing of disclosures to developing and negotiating appropriate licensing terms for license agreements, and finally to maintaining and monitoring existing agreements.

Rasor is also a former director of Licensing at The Ohio State University and former employee of Battelle Columbus Laboratories, a leading U.S. contract research firm.

Rasor has an MS in genetics from The Ohio State University and a BS in bacteriology and zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University. She has earned the CLP (Certified Licensing Professional) credential and is past president and chair of the Board of Governors of Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc. Rasor is a Past President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) Board of Trustees.  She has also served on the Board of Directors, most recently as Treasurer, of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

In 2005, she was awarded the President’s Award for service to AUTM. In 2007, Rasor was part of the team headed by Michigan’s Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan honored by The American Association for Cancer Research in its first annual AACR Team Science Award.

George A. Truskey is associate vice president for Research & Innovation and the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He received a BS degree in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. His current research interests include the response of cells to physical forces, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle tissue engineering, and the development of human microphysiological systems for disease modeling and drug and toxicity testing. He served as the Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke from 2003-2011 during which he led efforts to obtain the endowment for the Coulter-Duke Translational Partnership. From 2011-2020, he was Senior Associate Dean for the Pratt School of Engineering and facilitated the expansion in research and faculty and development of new educational programs. He was president of the Biomedical Engineering Society from 2008-2010. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Heart Association and the International Academy of Medical & Biological Engineering (IAMBE).

Ed Pagani, Ph.D., is the Assistant Vice President for External Partnerships and the Executive Director of the Office for External Partnerships (OEP) at Duke University. Pagani and the OEP team are building broader and deeper engagement between Duke faculty and industry, other universities, government agencies, and foundations for the purpose of forming regional and international partnerships. These partnerships will advance basic and translational research on the Duke campus as well as for Duke’s partners.

Pagani’s professional career spans both industry and academia with a focus on drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, and intellectual property transfer. Prior to joining Duke in 2022, he served more than eight years at the University of Michigan’s Office of Innovation Partnerships, including roles as Associate Director of Licensing, and Managing Director of Therapeutic Partnerships. Pagani has assumed various management and executive roles during his twenty-two years in the pharmaceutical industry that include leading drug discovery programs, and while at Pfizer heading an office responsible for strategic research alliances and in-licensing intellectual property. Pagani served as General Manager and Vice President of Molecular Diagnostics at Beckman Coulter and over a period of five years had executive oversight and accountability for an ISO 13485 chemical manufacturing facility and a nucleic acid sequencing and products division. He also served as CEO, North America for LGC Limited, a global life sciences tool company headquartered in Teddington, England.

Pagani received an AB in Psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Pagani was the recipient of the Albert J. Ryan Foundation fellowship and the University of Cincinnati Dean Dissertation Fellowship to support his doctoral education, and the recipient of a fellowship from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to support post-doctoral training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Mary Frances Luce is associate vice president for Research & Innovation at Duke, where she supports the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, and the arts. In this role, she works with Office for Research & Innovation leadership to ensure the delivery of excellent service and support for Duke's researchers and scholars, including faculty, trainees, and staff. Luce also serves as a liaison between the Office for Research & Innovation and key leaders in relevant schools, university-wide institutes, initiatives, centers, libraries, and administrative offices. With a commitment to creating a supportive environment for all scholars and researchers, she aims to advance the frontiers of knowledge and contribute to the international community of scholarship within a responsible conduct of research framework.

Dr. Swamy works with leaders across the Duke campus to provide a consistent vision for scientific integrity standards and expectations and drives efforts to ensure the advancement of scientific integrity. Her responsibilities include leading the Duke Office of Scientific Integrity (DOSI), which includes the Advancing Scientific Integrity, Services and Training (ASIST) initiative, conflict of interest disclosure and management, clinical research quality management, misconduct in research), and institutional research incident response. She also oversees the Duke Office of Research Initiatives (DORI) which works to facilitate effective research and collaborations for the Duke research community.

Professor John E. Dolbow came to Duke University from Northwestern University, where he received an MS and PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. During the course of his graduate study, John was a Computational Science Graduate Fellow for the Department of Energy, and he spent a summer working at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Dolbow's research concerns the development of computational methods for nonlinear problems in solid mechanics. In particular, he is interested in modeling quasi-static and dynamic fracture of structural components, the evolution of interfaces with nonlinear constitutive laws, and developing models for stimulus-responsive hydrogels. A native of New Hampshire, Dr. Dolbow received his Bachelor's Degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.