Leadership
Center Director
Executive Director
Assistant Research Professor
Assistant Research Professor
Nirmala (“Nimmi”) Ramanujam is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology, Cancer Biology, and Global Health and founder of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) at Duke University. Her work addresses access gaps across the cancer care continuum both locally and globally. Her group develops low-cost imaging, artificial intelligence, and digital health platforms to decentralize the early detection of cervical cancer, and immune-based injectables and metabolic biomarkers for breast cancer treatment. Across both programs, she addresses access in different ways—expanding prevention where healthcare infrastructure is limited and improving access to treatment where therapies are available, yet lengthy and prohibitively expensive. She founded Calla Health to translate women’s health technologies into practice and co-developed The (In)visible Organ, a documentary that raises awareness and addresses stigma as barriers to care. She also leads experiential STEM initiatives that train students in systems-based, equity-centered technology development and she has authored a textbook, Biomedical Engineering and Global Health. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, a Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of a number of awards, notably of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Innovator Award, the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Technical Field Award and the Anita B social impact award.
Marlee is a founding member of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, where she has served since 2007. Since being named Executive Director in 2018, Marlee has built and leads a diverse set of multidisciplinary educational programs, spearheads the Center’s international collaborations which focus on the clinical implementation of technologies developed at Duke, and has become widely successful in securing financial support for Center related research and education. Her research efforts focus on generating a deeper understanding of the scaling and adoption of novel healthcare innovations as well as the potential barriers to ultimate market acceptance.Additionally, she works with many members of the Pratt community as well as faculty, staff and students in numerous other departments across campus including, DGHI, Surgery, Ob/Gyn, Pathology and FUQUA and the Margolis Center for Health Policy. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Massachusetts, where she also received a M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Dr. Crouch began his appointment as the Center’s Assistant Director of Research in March 2020 and became an assistant professor, making him the Center's first junior faculty member, in September 2020. Dr. Crouch received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2018 under the mentorship of Dr. Ramanujam. Now, he works with Dr. Ramanujam and Marlee Krieger to bring GWHT's objectives to fruition. He is responsible for directing the Center’s research initiatives through strategic planning, funding opportunity identification, and mentoring of the graduate students, staff, and post-doctoral students. Dr. Crouch oversees the three main research initiatives within the Center: cervical pre-cancer imaging, breast cancer imaging, and cancer ablation. He is planing to secure one million dollars of federal funding for The Center for Global Women's Health Technologies by 2025, and he is excited to work with the Center's staff and students to accomplish GWHT's mission.
Dr. Madonna is an Assistant Research Professor in Biomedical Engineering and the Assistant Director of Education for the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies. Megan serves as a primary research mentor for the graduate and undergraduate students of GWHT in the areas of breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment through imaging and technology development. Additionally, Megan's research is dedicated to creating educational experiences that empower and retain K-12 and undergraduate students in STEM, particularly those who are underrepresented and gender minorities. This focus is not limited to engineering as a field but also extends toward developing a community-focused approach to problem-solving in the world around them. To pursue this goal, Megan spearheads the Center’s Broader Impacts Initiatives and serves as the Director of Ignite, GWHT’s K-12 engineering design education program. Under Megan’s directorship since 2020, Ignite has focused on Durham-area middle and high school students impacting over 120 students. Megan earned her Bachelor of Engineering from Vanderbilt University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University under the mentorship of Dr. Ramanujam where she was a T32 and F31 Fellow.