M. Giovanna Merli
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
My research straddles three disciplinary realms: demography, contemporary Chinese society and global health. I focus on a range of population and health issues in developing countries that intersect frontline public policy, such as the role of China's population control program in lowering fertility preferences and fertility rates in China, the social and behavioral determinants of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and the methodological evaluation and implementation of network-based approaches to sample hard-to-reach and hidden populations such as those at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as undocumented migrants.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2014
- Director of the Duke Population Research Center, Duke Population Research Center, Duke Population Research Institute 2016
- Director of the Duke University Population Research Institute (DUPRI), Duke Population Research Institute, Social Science Research Institute 2020
- Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2014
- Research Professor of Global Health, Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers 2014
Contact Information
- 236 Rubenstein Hall, Durham, NC 27708
- Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708-0312
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giovanna.merli@duke.edu
(919) 613-9305
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania 1996
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania 1993
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Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Faculty Research Scholar of DuPRI's Population Research Center, Duke Population Research Center, Duke Population Research Institute 2010 - 2017
- Associate Professor of Public Policy Studies, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2008 - 2014
- Associate Professor of Sociology, Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2009 - 2014
- Associate Research Professor of Global Health, Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers 2011 - 2014
- Recognition
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In the News
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MAY 23, 2018 Social Science Research Institute -
OCT 29, 2015
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- Expertise
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Subject Headings
- Adolescent
- Age Distribution
- Amphetamine-Related Disorders
- Behavioral Research
- Birth Rate
- Censuses
- Child
- China
- Contraception Behavior
- Data Collection
- Demography
- Drug Users
- Emigration and Immigration
- Epidemiologic Methods
- Family Characteristics
- Family Planning Services
- Female
- HIV Infections
- Health Behavior
- Health Surveys
- Humans
- Infant
- Infant Mortality
- Life Tables
- Mortality
- Patient Selection
- Population Control
- Population Dynamics
- Population Surveillance
- Prostitution
- Sampling Studies
- Sex Distribution
- Sex Ratio
- Sex Workers
- Social networks
- Socioeconomic Factors
- Syphilis
- Unsafe Sex
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Global Scholarship
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Expertise
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Research
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- Research
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Selected Grants
- Focused Training in Social Networks and Health awarded by National Institutes of Health 2015 - 2025
- Duke Population Research Center awarded by National Institutes of Health 2010 - 2025
- Duke RDS2 (Respondent-Driven Sampling, Respiratory Disease Surveillance) the SNOWBALL Sampling Study awarded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020 - 2022
- Social Capital in a Migrant Community: A Case of Employment Referral Networks awarded by National Science Foundation 2020 - 2022
- Testing Multiple Modes of Data Collection with Network Sampling with Memory awarded by National Institutes of Health 2016 - 2019
- Using Multiple Data Sources to Improve Respondent Driven Sampling Estimation awarded by National Institutes of Health 2011 - 2016
- HIV risk behaviors among methamphetamine users in Cape Town, South Africa awarded by National Institutes of Health 2012 - 2015
- Developing an Interdisciplinary Graduate Curriculum in Global Health at Duke University awarded by National Institutes of Health 2008 - 2012
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External Relationships
- Princeton University
- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Academic Articles
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Merli, M Giovanna, James Moody, Ashton Verdery, and Mark Yacoub. “Demography's Changing Intellectual Landscape: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Leading Anglophone Journals, 1950-2020.” Demography, May 2023, 10714127. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-10714127.Full Text
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Stolte, Allison, Gabriela A. Nagy, Chanel Zhan, Ted Mouw, and M Giovanna Merli. “The impact of two types of COVID-19-related discrimination and contemporaneous stressors on Chinese immigrants in the US South.” Ssm. Mental Health 2 (December 2022): 100159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100159.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Merli, M Giovanna, Ted Mouw, Claire Le Barbenchon, and Allison Stolte. “Using Social Networks to Sample Migrants and Study the Complexity of Contemporary Immigration: An Evaluation Study.” Demography 59, no. 3 (June 2022): 995–1022. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9934929.Full Text
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Stolte, Allison, M Giovanna Merli, Jillian H. Hurst, Yaxing Liu, Charles T. Wood, and Benjamin A. Goldstein. “Using Electronic Health Records to understand the population of local children captured in a large health system in Durham County, NC, USA, and implications for population health research.” Soc Sci Med 296 (March 2022): 114759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114759.Full Text Link to Item
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Attané, Isabelle, Lisa Eklund, M Giovanna Merli, Michel Bozon, Tania Angeloff, Bo Yang, Shuzhuo Li, et al. “Understanding Bachelorhood in Poverty-stricken and High Sex Ratio Settings: An Exploratory Study in Rural Shaanxi, China.” The China Quarterly 240 (December 2019): 990–1017. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741019000390.Full Text
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Merli, M Giovanna, Ashton Verdery, Ted Mouw, and Jing Li. “Sampling Migrants from their Social Networks: The Demography and Social Organization of Chinese Migrants in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.” Migration Studies 4, no. 2 (July 2016): 182–214. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnw004.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Verdery, Ashton M., M Giovanna Merli, James Moody, Jeffrey A. Smith, and Jacob C. Fisher. “Brief Report: Respondent-driven Sampling Estimators Under Real and Theoretical Recruitment Conditions of Female Sex Workers in China.” Epidemiology 26, no. 5 (September 2015): 661–65. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000000335.Full Text Link to Item
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Merli, M. G., J. Moody, J. Smith, J. Li, S. Weir, and X. Chen. “Challenges to recruiting population representative samples of female sex workers in China using Respondent Driven Sampling.” Social Science & Medicine (1982), April 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.022.Full Text
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Fisher, Jacob C., and M Giovanna Merli. “Stickiness of respondent-driven sampling recruitment chains.” Network Science (Cambridge University Press) 2, no. 2 (January 2014): 298–301. https://doi.org/10.1017/nws.2014.16.Full Text Open Access Copy
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He, Wei, Sherman A. James, M Giovanna Merli, and Hui Zheng. “An increasing socioeconomic gap in childhood overweight and obesity in China.” Am J Public Health 104, no. 1 (January 2014): e14–22. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301669.Full Text Link to Item
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Tian, F., M. Merli, and Z. Qian. “Job mobility and extramarital sex in reform-era Urban China.” Chinese Sociological Review 46, no. 1 (October 1, 2013): 60–82. https://doi.org/10.2753/CSA2162-0555460103.Full Text
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Yamanis, T. J., M. G. Merli, W. W. Neely, F. F. Tian, J. Moody, X. Tu, and E. Gao. “An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Recruitment Patterns on RDS Estimates among a Socially Ordered Population of Female Sex Workers in China.” Sociological Methods & Research 42, no. 3 (August 2013). https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124113494576.Full Text
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Weir, Sharon S., M Giovanna Merli, Jing Li, Anisha D. Gandhi, William W. Neely, Jessie K. Edwards, Chirayath M. Suchindran, Gail E. Henderson, and Xiang-Sheng Chen. “A comparison of respondent-driven and venue-based sampling of female sex workers in Liuzhou, China.” Sexually Transmitted Infections 88 Suppl 2 (December 2012): i95-101. https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2012-050638.Full Text
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Li, Jing, Xiang-Sheng Chen, M Giovanna Merli, Sharon S. Weir, and Gail E. Henderson. “Systematic differences in risk behaviors and syphilis prevalence across types of female sex workers: a preliminary study in Liuzhou, China.” Sexually Transmitted Diseases 39, no. 3 (March 2012): 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1097/olq.0b013e31823d2e2a.Full Text
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Merli, M Giovanna, S Philip Morgan, and Patrick Festy. “Les préférences de fécondité à Shanghai dans un contexte de basse fécondité.” Population 66, no. 3 (2011): 601–26.
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Merli, M Giovanna, and S Philip Morgan. “Below replacement fertility preferences in Shanghai.” Population 66, no. 3–4 (January 2011): 519–42. https://doi.org/10.3917/pope.1103.0519.Full Text
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Tu, Sara, Sara Xiaowen, Chen Xiao, Fang Guanghong, Fang Merli, M. Giovanna, Gu Weiming, Yang Yang, and Gao Ersheng. “Factors associated with sexually transmitted disease infection among female sex workers in Shanghai, China.” Zhongguo Gonggong Weisheng Zazhi (Chinese Journal of Public Health), 2010.
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Merli, M Giovanna. “Demography in the Age of the Postmodern. By Nancy E. Riley and James McCarthy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. 212. $55.00 (cloth); $20.00 (paper).” American Journal of Sociology 114, no. 6 (May 2009): 1879–81. https://doi.org/10.1086/600320.Full Text
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Merli, M Giovanna. “Governing China's Population: From Leninist to Neoliberal Biopolitics.” Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 36, no. 2 (March 2007): 164–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/009430610703600232.Full Text
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Giovanna Merli, M., Sara Hertog, Bo Wang, and Jing Li. “Modelling the spread of HIV/AIDS in China: the role of sexual transmission.” Population Studies 60, no. 1 (March 2006): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324720500436060.Full Text
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Merli, M Giovanna. “The past, present and future of China’s birth planning policy.” Il Politico.Rivista Italiana Di Scienze Politiche (Italian Journal of Political Sciences) LXXI, no. 3 (2006): 83–108.
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Merli, M. G., Z. Qian, and H. L. Smith. “Adaptation of a political bureaucracy to economic and institutional change under socialism: The Chinese state family planning system.” Politics and Society 32, no. 2 (June 1, 2004): 231–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329204263073.Full Text
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Merli, M Giovanna, and Herbert L. Smith. “Has the Chinese family planning policy been successful in changing fertility preferences?” Demography 39, no. 3 (August 2002): 557–72. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2002.0029.Full Text
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Merli, Herbert L., M. Giovanna, and Herbert L. Smith. “Has the Chinese Birth Planning Program Been Successful in Changing Fertility Preferences? Evidence from Linked Records in Three Data Sources in Four Counties of Northern China.” Demography 39, no. 3 (2002): 557–72.
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Merli, M. G. “Socioeconomic background and war mortality during Vietnam's wars.” Demography 37, no. 1 (February 2000): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/2648092.Full Text
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Merli, M. G., and A. E. Raftery. “Are births underreported in rural China? Manipulation of statistical records in response to China's population policies.” Demography 37, no. 1 (February 2000): 109–26. https://doi.org/10.2307/2648100.Full Text
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Merli, M. G. “Mortality in Vietnam, 1979-1989.” Demography 35, no. 3 (August 1998): 345–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/3004042.Full Text
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Merli, M. G. “Underreporting of births and infant deaths in rural China: evidence from field research in one county of northern China.” China Quarterly, no. 155 (January 1, 1998): 637–55. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741000050025.Full Text
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Smith, H. L., T. Ping, M. G. Merli, and M. Hereward. “Implementation of a demographic and contraceptive surveillance system in four counties in north China.” Population Research and Policy Review 16, no. 4 (January 1, 1997): 289–314. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005780526018.Full Text
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Book Sections
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Merli, M. G., J. DeWaard, F. Tian, and S. Hertog. “Migration and Gender in China’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic.” In Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis, 22:27–53, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9900-7_3.Full Text
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
- GLHLTH 290S: Special Topics in Global Health 2023
- GLHLTH 761S: Introductory Demographic Measures and Concepts 2023
- PUBPOL 290S: Selected Public Policy Topics 2023
- PUBPOL 840S: Introductory Demographic Measures and Concepts 2023
- GLHLTH 761S: Introductory Demographic Measures and Concepts 2022
- PUBPOL 290S: Selected Public Policy Topics 2022
- PUBPOL 840S: Introductory Demographic Measures and Concepts 2022
- PUBPOL 909: Dissertation Proposal Seminar II 2021
- Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
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