Maggie Sweitzer, PhD, has been named director of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences’ Clinical Research Unit (CRU) as of April 1, 2025.
Sweitzer is an associate professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences, a member of the Duke Cancer Institute, and a member of the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. Her research focuses on neurobehavioral mechanisms linking nicotine use with other risk factors, including childhood adversity and chronic pain.
“Over the past several months, Dr. Sweitzer has been leading the department’s collaboration with the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Methods Core, where she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication,” said Jonathan Posner, MD, J. P. Gibbons Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and vice chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. “In addition, her extensive experience with and commitment to collaborative research make her an outstanding choice for this position.”
Sweitzer will continue to oversee the BERD Core while expanding her leadership as director of the CRU. In the CRU leadership role, she will be responsible for ensuring the integrity, financial accountability, regulatory compliance, quality, and academic productivity of clinical and translational human subject research within the unit.
She received her PhD in clinical and biological/health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013. As part of her graduate studies, she also completed a concentration in cognitive neuroscience through the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint venture between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
Sweitzer joined the Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences faculty as a clinical associate in 2013 and was promoted to assistant professor in 2015.