New York, March 16, 2021 – The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) today announced the appointment, following a national search, of Sindy Escobar Alvarez as the new director of the foundation’s Medical Research Program.
“It is an extraordinary pleasure to see a colleague of such talent and commitment ascend to this leadership position at the foundation,” said Ed Henry, president of DDCF. “Sindy has been deeply rooted in the work of the Medical Research Program for more than 10 years, with extensive experience in biomedical research before joining the foundation. Her experience and intellectual curiosity have advanced the work of the Medical Research Program, and we look forward to the ways in which she will continue to improve the foundation’s grant making to support clinical research that advances the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of human diseases while promoting a more inclusive, equitable and effective field.”
Sindy Escobar Alvarez, Ph.D., brings a wealth of research experience and perspective from her work with the scientific community, supporting evaluation efforts to inform program strategy, and managing processes to identify awardees of the foundation’s programs to support sickle cell disease research and the retention of early-career physician scientists. Escobar Alvarez joined the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as the program officer for medical research in 2010 and became the senior program officer in 2016. Throughout her career, she has shared her scientific contributions and insight about the clinical research workforce through presentations at national meetings and in peer-reviewed publications.
Escobar Alvarez currently serves as vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Health Research Alliance, a coalition of non-profit funders of biomedical research, and is a past member of both the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s Advisory Panel on Rare Diseases and Vivli’s External Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Hematology, New York Academy of Sciences and the Association for Women in Science. She is a graduate of the Pharmacology Department at the Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences, through which she trained at the Sloan Kettering Institute of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“I’m greatly honored to lead the Medical Research Program at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation,” said Escobar Alvarez. “The Medical Research Program has supported an outstanding body of clinical research since its inception. I am excited to build on the legacy of the leaders that precede me and to continue to realize Doris Duke’s wishes to support research to effectuate cures for human disease.”
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, child well-being and medical research, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The foundation’s Medical Research Program supports clinical research that advances the translation of biomedical discoveries into new preventions, diagnoses and treatments for human diseases. To learn more about the program, visit www.ddcf.org.