Resource Repository


Useful Links for Understanding and Incorporating Equity into Your Research


Duke Resources:


Integrating Special Populations

  • What is Rural?
    Rural classifications by the Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture.

  • Rural Health Information Hub
    The Rural Health Information Hub, formerly the Rural Assistance Center, is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to be a national clearinghouse on rural health issues.

  • NC Rural Center
    The NC Rural Center’s mission is to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies to improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians.

Duke Resources:

  • Duke Center for REACH Equity
    Addresses racial and ethnic disparities in health by developing and testing interventions to improve the quality of patient-centered care in the clinical encounter.

  • Duke Office of Health Equity and Disparities
    The Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) primary focal point for community outreach, particularly around DCI’s hosting, coordinating, and participation in community health events and its commitment to community-facing navigation.

  • Duke Health Disparities Research Curriculum (HDRC)
    Designed to increase knowledge and skill of participants in the evaluation, design, and conduct of health disparities research.

  • NCCU-Duke Cancer Disparities Translational Research
    A partnership, focusing on translational cancer health disparities research and education/training of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-stage investigators in this field.


National Resources:

  • CDC's Social Vulnerability Index
    Uses 15 U.S. census variables to help local officials identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters. Disasters include natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks.

  • Health Disparities Calculator
    A NIH statistical software designed to generate multiple summary measures to evaluate and monitor health disparities.

  • The Undiagnosed Diseases Network
     A network of medical centers across the United States that is focused on the identification of mysterious conditions that have eluded a diagnosis. This network also establishes cooperation between researchers and clinicians to solve medical mysteries through team science.

  • Rare Diseases Community Resources (NIH)
    NCATS offers free materials and resources to help patients, health care providers, scientists, etc. to learn about rare diseases and help advance research on them.

  • Rare Action Network
    A patient advocacy organization committed to the identification, treatment, and cure of rare disorders through education, advocacy, research, and patient services.

  • Pregnancy Justice
    Dedicated to defending the rights of pregnant people against criminalization and other rights violations because of pregnancy and all pregnancy outcomes.

  • Inclusion of Pregnant and Lactating Persons in Clinical Trials: Proceedings of a Workshop
    The National Academies Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation convened a workshop in June 2022 for stakeholders to examine the current state of evidence generation for drug products used by pregnant and lactating persons and discuss barriers and opportunities for including these populations in clinical trials. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.