Duke Management Academy Scholars

Mary (Summer) Starling

Title: Sr. Manager, Lead, Strategic Operations
Department: Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI)
Entity:
Class Year: 2025

Bio:
Dr. Starling came to Duke in 2019. She first joined the Duke School of Medicine where she led mixed methods research studies with clinical investigators at Duke to understand and improve patient experiences in clinical research. Dr. Starling moved to the Duke Clinical Research Institute in 2022. She currently serves as the head of strategy and operations for the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public-private partnership organization between Duke and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Along with her colleagues, she is accelerating progress towards improving the quality and efficiency of clinical trials.

Dr. Starling has more than 20 years' experience in public health and is trained as a social scientist. Earlier in her career, she was a senior scientist and a Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellow with the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA, conducting research on adolescent health and decision-making. She has also worked as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson and other healthcare companies, where she led client- centered research programs and organizational change campaigns. Dr. Starling received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's in Public Health (MPH) in sociomedical sciences from Columbia University.