Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, is a Professor in Musculoskeletal Research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Director of System Development and Coordination for Spine Health in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Spine Institute for Quality and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. Formerly, she was Vice Chancellor of Research and Health Policy at Palmer College of Chiropractic for 11 years.

Goertz received her Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree from Northwestern Health Sciences University in 1991 and her PhD in health services research, policy, and administration from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in 1999.

Her 25-year research career has focused on working with multidisciplinary teams to design and implement clinical and health services research studies designed to increase knowledge regarding the effectiveness and cost of complementary and integrative healthcare delivery. She has extensive experience in the administration of federal grants, both as a principal investigator and as a program official at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Goertz has received nearly $32 million in federal funding as either principal investigator or co-principal investigator, primarily from NIH and the Department of Defense, and has authored or coauthored nearly 100 peer-reviewed papers. Her primary area of focus is the investigation of patient-centered, non-pharmacological treatments for spine-related disorders.

Goertz is a former member of NIH’s National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health. She also currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where she has assumed numerous leadership roles, including her appointment in September 2019 as Chairperson of the PCORI Board of Governors by the Comptroller General of the United States.