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M. Giovanna Merli is a Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and serves as the Associate Director of the Duke University Population Research Institute and Director of the Duke Population Research Center. Her research focuses on applying demographic methods to study fertility and mortality in China and Vietnam, with a concentration on innovative approaches for studying hidden and hard-to-reach populations. Noteworthy, she has utilized network sampling techniques to collect ego-centric network data in population-representative surveys to explore the behavioral and relational determinants of HIV and sexually transmitted disease transmission, particularly among Chinese and African immigrant populations. Currently, her work includes a project linking origin and destination contexts to examine health outcomes among immigrants from Ghana to the U.S. In recognition of her contributions to the field, she is also a Co-Editor-in-Chief of 'Demography', the flagship journal of the Population Association of America. Merli has authored numerous publications spanning over two decades, focusing on the impact of socio-cultural factors on demographic trends in diverse populations.
Department of Biomedical Engineering (MS program)