Overview

Dr. Gillespie has 30 years of experience in clinical oncology, including direct patient care. For 14 years she developed and led the clinical trials programs at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, conducting prospective therapeutic and cancer control studies. As director of health services research at the Atlanta VA Medical Center for 10 years, she built and directed a program targeting chronic conditions including cancer and investigated key outcomes including mortality, morbidity, HRQOL, and costs.

Dr. Gillespie's research involves multiple cancer types, encompassing clinical, health services, and population-based investigations. Her breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer studies have been funded by multiple NIH institutes, AHRQ, CDC, American Cancer Society, Department of Defense, and the Avon and Movember foundations, and have focused on informed decision-making, measurement of quality and guideline concordant care, cancer disparities (including racial, socioeconomic, and rural/urban underserved), risk communications, and the intersection of technology, patient comprehension, and outcomes. She conducts research using VA, NSQIP, SEER, Medicare, and other national datasets, and serves as institutional lead for oncology health services research using the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) files for multiple tumor types. Dr. Gillespie is also funded by the Gates Foundation for a global web-based tool, the Global Health Primer, which provides education and information on research and development for neglected diseases and such non-communicable diseases as cancer in low- and middle-income countries. She was appointed as Senior Fellow, Emory Global Health Institute, to lead the effort to develop a global oncology program through Emory University. She serves as m-PI for an NIH Science Education Partnership Award grant to promote STEM education and careers for minority, girls, and rural students across the state of Georgia.

Academic Appointment

• Professor, Hematology & Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine
• Professor, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
• Professor, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• Clinical Associate, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

Education

Research