Cierra Buckman

Cierra Buckman is a PhD student in Population Health Sciences at Duke University, where her work focuses on implementation science, pragmatic trials, and food-as-medicine programs. Before starting her doctoral training, she spent nearly a decade building and leading clinical research infrastructure across academic medical centers. After earning her Master of Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, she coordinated national and international research in child sexual abuse prevention. In 2017, she joined ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, where she created a centralized pediatric research program and later led efforts to integrate clinical research operations across the school and health system.

Her research centers on underserved populations, rural health, and social determinants of health, with recent work spanning produce-prescription programs, heart-failure care, and high-need diabetes populations. She is also developing a health-tech venture focused on streamlining study-startup workflows in academic research. Outside of work, Cierra enjoys running, climbing, and reading.