M. Giovanna Merli | Scholars@Duke

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
giovanna.merli@duke.edu (919) 613-9305

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania 1996
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania 1993
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
In the News
- MAY 23, 2018 Social Science Research Institute
  
  What Rivalry? Duke and UNC Social Scientists Collaborate at Annual Demography Daze
- OCT 29, 2015
  
  News Tip: Ending China’s One-Child Policy ‘Long Overdue,’ Expert Says
Expertise
Subject Headings
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
  - China (Country)
- Research
  - China (Country)
  - United Republic of Tanzania (Country)
Research
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
External Relationships
- Princeton University
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - 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.
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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
  - 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
  - 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
  - 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.
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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.
  - 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
  - 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.
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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.
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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.
  - 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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- Book Sections
  - 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.
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Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
- Global Health Outreach. Using Multiple Data Sources to Improve Respondent Driven Sampling Estimation. April 2011 2011

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

In the News

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Research

Selected Grants

External Relationships

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Recent Courses

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship