Beth Gifford is an associate research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy. Gifford is leading the Social and Economic Component of the Children’s Health and Discovery Institute housed within the Duke School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. She is currently serving as an Early Childhood Policy Fellow with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She is also a Co-PI on two studies that examine the intergenerational effects of parental involvement in the criminal justice system, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Her primary research interests involve evaluating programs and policies that are designed to improve outcomes for vulnerable children. These populations include children who live in low-income families, are in the juvenile justice system or in foster care, require special education or have emotional and or behavioral problems.