Dr. Willis brings more than a decade of experience in federal science administration, having overseen approximately $30 million annually in expenditures supporting biomedical research and training at the National Institutes of Health. During her tenure at NIH, she represented the agency on several high-profile initiatives to improve rigor and reproducibility in research. She also oversaw the implementation of the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (R35) program for Early Stage Investigators at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, an innovative alternative to traditional project-based funding that supports the full program of research in the laboratory of awardees.

A systems biologist by training, Dr. Willis has an established track record of applying computational and data science approaches to large-scale administrative and bibliometric data to generate novel insights into the drivers of scientific productivity and progress. Through Woodley Park Institute, she seeks to translate these insights into evidence-based strategies for improving how scientific research is supported and evaluated.