The National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) aims to offer unparalleled training for clinicians as change agents driving policy-relevant research and partnerships to improve health and health care. The goal of the program is to cultivate health equity, eliminate health disparities, invent new models of care, and achieve higher quality health care at lower cost by training nurse and physician researchers who work as leaders and collaborators embedded in communities, healthcare systems, government, foundations, and think tanks in the United States and around the world.
The overarching goal of the Duke NCSP is to train inter-professional clinician scholars in data-driven inquiry, policy-impactful and rigorous investigation, sensitive community-based participatory research, and transformation of health care practice. Four central pillars undergird the program:
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diverse and experienced program leadership;
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a deep bench of dedicated and successful mentors;
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a comprehensive didactic research and professional development training program;
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and a broad range of mentored research and policy training opportunities, including direct engagement with community partners and community organizations.
Specifically, the Duke NCSP focuses on community-based research, health services research, health policy, and implementation science across a broad range of disciplines. Scholars will build expertise in these disciplines because they are critical both to improving health care access, equity, quality, and outcomes and to identifying and implementing effective health care policies. We also offer a master’s degree option in Duke’s Clinical Research Training Program, which will serve as the core degree program for our clinician scholars with an interest in pursuing a formal degree. Other areas of research strength at Duke include:
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Data science
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Urban and rural health
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Technology-driven interventions to improve health and manage chronic illness
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Behavior change and behavioral economics
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Health and disease across the life span
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Health disparities research
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Health care policymaking
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Community engagement
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VA focus on prevention, virtual care, and optimizing function and independence
Situated in central North Carolina, our NCSP facilitates the study of rural and urban disparities, social determinants of health, and health in the Southeast. According to the 2017 America’s Health Rankings® Annual Report—the longest-running annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis—North Carolina ranks 33rd in the U.S. across 35 core measures of health, including behaviors, community and environmental conditions, policies, as well as clinical care and outcomes data. In fact, every state in the southeastern U.S. (with the exception of Virginia) falls in the bottom half of these rankings. In this geographic context, Duke serves a patient population that suffers from higher rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and heart disease than other areas of the country; consequently, Scholars who commit to improving outcomes for our population will have a larger impact on suffering.
We also have a long tradition of identifying and addressing racial disparities in health care. Duke serves an ever-growing and increasingly diverse population, and we are committed to ensuring that our workforce, leadership, and institutional environment are equally diverse so that we may deliver the highest quality of care to every patient.
As a vibrant university and health system, Duke brings a number of strengths and unique characteristics to the NCSP. With proximity to key federal and state policy stakeholders, our program joins resources from the Schools of Medicine and Nursing and the Durham VA Medical Center to create a unique training experience that prepares Scholars for leadership in clinical research and health policy locally, regionally, and nationally.
Contact us to learn more: ncsp@duke.edu
The Duke NCSP program has three primary pillars or areas of focus – health policy, health services research, and community engagement – building on a foundation of anti-racism and anti-bias leadership, with an overarching focus on health equity. Duke NCSP acknowledges the pervasive roles that systemic racism and oppressive practices have historically played in marginalizing and entrenching disadvantage for certain individuals and communities. We firmly believe in the importance of including formal training in health equity and anti-racism in our core curriculum. The program actively recruits scholars who prioritize health equity, and are interested in applying a health equity lens to their work, regardless of their area of specific interest. We encourage you to contact us to learn more.