Dr. Christine (Chris) Gray is a social epidemiologist and assistant research professor in the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR) in the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI). Broadly, her research examines the role of social-environmental structures that drive disparities in mental health and well-being in vulnerable populations, including orphaned children, sexual and gender minorities, and communities harmed by discriminatory practices. Dr. Gray’s work integrates implementation science with epidemiologic methods to inform research, policy, and practice.

Dr. Gray’s current work includes both global and local projects, primarily funded by NIH. She is leading a study (SAGE) in western Kenya to examine sustainment and generalizability of a mental health intervention for children experiencing traumatic stress that was implemented in 40 primary schools and communities. She has worked extensively on the parent implementation effectiveness study (BASIC) and an ongoing, 15-year longitudinal cohort study (POFO) of orphaned and separated children in five countries (Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Tanzania) to understand a range of experiences, behaviors, and outcomes. Her projects also include the SMILE study, which is establishing multi-country longitudinal cohorts of sexual and gender minorities to identify specific mental health intervention targets, and a feasibility study in North Carolina to understand sampling and recruitment of SGM for mental health studies. Finally, Dr. Gray has long-standing collaborations with the Environmental Protection Agency focused on place-based equity research, including current work on the role of gentrification in understanding how historical redlining impacts present day health outcomes.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Gray worked for nearly a decade in public health, including completion of a three-year, post-masters fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and worked at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She earned her PhD from the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and her MPH from Emory University.