Dr. Deborah Duran, Ph.D.

Senior Advisor
Data Science
Analytics and Systems
Office of the Director
durande@mail.nih.gov
301-594-9809

Dr. Deborah Duran is the senior advisor to the NIMHD’s director for data science, data analytics, and data systems. She advises the NIMHD director on the state of the field and efforts at the levels of the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Duran founded the SCHARE (Science Collaborative for Health disparities and Artificial intelligence Reduction of Errors) cloud platform for research, which is part of NAIRR or the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource. She leads think-a-thons to upskill researchers’ novice to data science technologies for use with big data and cloud computing resources for AI research that is fit-to-purpose with minimal errors. The SCHARE repository hosts population science data in a centralized location.

Dr. Duran is an expert in common data elements and other strategies to improve data aggregation and prepare AI-ready data sets. She provides NIMHD’s voice in NIH efforts regarding data harmonization and management. In 2012, she was appointed as the first director of NIMHD’s Office of Science Policy, Strategic Planning, Analysis, Reporting, and Data. Prior to joining NIMHD, Dr. Duran was deputy director of the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities at the National Cancer Institute and previously served in the NIH Office of the Director to lead NIH’s performance monitoring.

Dr. Duran has a Ph.D. in social psychology with a minor in research methodologies and statistics from the University of Denver. She also holds an M.S. in computer science from Nova Southeastern University and completed a Harvard Leadership certification. In 2000 and 2004, Dr. Duran earned the H.H.S. Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. She has been awarded several NIH director and Institute specific awards. Dr. Duran was a 2024 Flywheel Finalist, which honors federal IT visionaries who are driving innovation.

Page updated Feb. 14, 2025