NIH Grant Will Allow Duke Professor to Study Risky Sexual Practices of Women in China

M. Giovanna Merli, associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, has been awarded a four-year, $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the prevalence risky health behaviors and incidence of sexually transmitted disease among female sex  workers in China. Merli and her research team will work with scholars from Shanghai Fudan University and the Nanjing National Center for STD Control.

Dr. Merli is a graduate of the University of Venice. She earned a master’s degree in international relations at Johns Hopkins University and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in demography from the University of Pennsylvania.