DGHI's Deputy Director Named Grainger Global Environmental Health Chair

Randy_Kramer

DGHI's deputy director Randall Kramer has been named the Juli Plant Grainger Professor of Global Environmental Health.

Published January 17, 2017 under Research News

Randall Kramer, deputy director of the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) and professor of environmental economics and global health at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has been named the Juli Plant Grainger Professor of Global Environmental Health. 

The newly endowed chair was made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor that qualified for matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health matching grant. The professorship is designed to recognize a faculty member of distinction who has made outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching in global environmental health. 

Kramer was selected for the professorship by Provost Sally Kornbluth, based upon the recommendation of the dean of the Nicholas School and the director of DGHI.

“Randy is the ideal person to be the first holder of the Grainger chair,” said Jeffrey Vincent, Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School and DGHI affiliate faculty member. “He pioneered research on economic aspects of environmental health issues in developing countries. A great citizen of the university, he has worked tirelessly, and successfully, to establish strong connections between teaching and research programs in the Nicholas School and DGHI.” 

Kramer has conducted extensive research on the economics of biodiversity conservation, water quality protection and environmental health improvement. 

His recent research focuses on environmental health interventions to reduce vector-borne disease. He leads a research team that uses household surveys, blood samples, mosquito trapping, decision analysis and implementation science to evaluate the health, social and environmental impact of alternative malaria control strategies in East Africa. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, World Health Organization, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and other organizations. He was named Duke University Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 2004.

“There is a great deal of rich collaboration taking place between the Nicholas School and DGHI,” said Michael Merson, DGHI director. “Randy is an exemplar of this.

“In addition to being an outstanding mentor of students and junior faculty, he has been a valued colleague to me and so many others and is deeply committed to advancing global health through his well-established collaborations with partners around the world,” Merson continued. “He is eminently deserving of this recognition.” 

Chairs such as this one established through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health matching grant are intended to recognize a scholar of distinction and interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching between schools at Duke and DGHI.

Learn more about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation matching grant.

A great citizen of the university, [Kramer] has worked tirelessly, and successfully, to establish strong connections between teaching and research programs in the Nicholas School and DGHI.

Jeffrey Vincent, Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School