Leadership
Toni Darville, MD
Scientific Director
Synergizing her roles as the Vice Chair of Research for the 黑料网 Department of Pediatrics, Co-Director of the 黑料网 MD-PhD Program, and Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Dr. Darville leverages her intimate familiarity with the pediatric research landscape across 黑料网 and the nation to ensure the CRI is ready and able to provide the critical support needed to ensure our researchers are ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.鈥�
Her leadership focus for the CRI includes:鈥�
- Ensuring support and resources to investigators dedicated to pediatric health research and the unique challenges it presents.
- Promoting the success of junior physicians and scientists in the Department of Pediatrics through excellent mentorship and career guidance.
- Institute and grow programs that enable feedback from senior researchers to junior faculty and fellows, identify and connect mentors with mentees and provide information related to resources available on campus.
- Building and growing partnerships with local, national, and global institutions and community partners to guarantee CRI researchers have access to collaborators, resources, and tools to stay on the leading edge of child health research.
Michelle Hernandez, MD
Associate Director of Clinical Research
Dr. Hernandez is a Professor of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, the Director of the NC Child Health Research Network, the Associate Medical Director of the NC Children鈥檚 Allergy & Asthma Center, and the Program Director of the . In her leadership role with the CRI she directs the CRI 鈥� Pediatric Clinical Research Unit and spearheads community outreach and community-based research development. 鈥�
Her leadership focus for the CRI includes:鈥�
- Developing, promoting, and overseeing the 黑料网 PedsCRU
- Building an expanding network of sites and community-based partners to enable us to bring pediatric research to the diverse communities where children live across NC (and beyond!) 鈥� ensuring all children and families engage, inform, and be represented in the research that will affect them.
- Supporting partnership between researchers and community members to promote research, community engagement and dissemination of research results to the community.
- Coordinating with other career and professional development programs at 黑料网 in partnership with other CRI leadership to strategically target opportunities for our early-stage investigators.
Corinne Keet, MD, PhD
Associate Scientific Director
Dr. Keet is the 黑料网 Department of Pediatrics鈥� Vice Chair of Clinical and Translational Research, Co-Director of the Carolina Child Health Scholars program, and a leader within the 黑料网 Food Allergy Initiative and the Division of Allergy & Immunology. She serves as the operational manager of the Children鈥檚 Research Institute, directing many of our programs and initiatives to facilitate engagement, mentoring, and resourcing to ensure our CRI researchers and their teams have the support they need.
Her leadership focus for the CRI includes:
- Overseeing the research program support team, which provides program management, biostatistical and data management services, proposal development, and other ancillary services.鈥�
- Coordinating the CRI lecture series and other initiatives that foster collaboration between our researchers and partners at 黑料网 and abroad.
- Leading our K to first-time R program to ensure that early-career scientists are well-positioned to secure funding.
- Overseeing and growing our internal funding opportunities so that our investigators can go after high-risk, high-reward ideas, putting our researchers on the best footing to secure larger external research awards critical to making the discoveries of tomorrow.