School of Medicine

19 posts

Georgia Tomaras

gdt@duke.edu            

School of Medicine                 

My laboratory is focused on understanding immune variation among individuals to elucidate ways to maximize immune potential and resilience. Over the past two decades, we have built a cutting-edge research laboratory program comprised of expert teams specializing in biophysical immunology, antibody immuno-technology, systems immunology, mucosal immunology, preclinical translation, data management, quality assurance, biostatistics, computational immunology, and program management. We explore the mechanisms that effector cells engage in for clearing infection in vivo and her laboratory applies systems immunology approaches to discover how protective immunity is achieved. Our laboratory has discovered specific antibodies that correlate with protections status and is focused on bridging basic and translational science for improving human health.       

https://chsi.duke.edu

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/gdt

Immune resilience 

Truls Ostbye

truls.ostbye@duke.edu          

School of Medicine                 

chronic disease epidemiology; obesity; health services research; population health; public health; social medicine; medical informatics; health information systems; health surveys; program evaluation; cost-of-illness; clinical trials; primary care reform; international collaboration; electronic distance education; pharmacoepidemiology; aging; nutrition; dementia; diabetes; and stroke.                       

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/truls.ostbye

Community medicine and occupational risks of health in tropical countries that are most likely to be impacted by climate change driven heat stress. 

Megan Reller

megan.reller@duke.edu

School of Medicine                 

Improved diagnosis of zoonotic and arboviral acute febrile illness; epidemiology and environmental predictors of acute febrile illness; temporal and geospatial distribution and predictors of acute febrile illness; diagnostic testing; clinical trials for COVID-19 infection; respiratory viruses in resource-poor environments

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/megan.reller

extensive expertise in the design, conduct, and analysis of prospective epidemiologic, microbiologic, and clinical studies of zoonotic, arboviral, and respiratory acute febrile illness in Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Madagascar;  fluency in French and Spanish; relationship between rainfall and leptospirosis and arboviruses; epidemiology of acute febrile illness; improved detection of arboviral and zoonotic causes of acute febrile illness                                                     

Nrupen Bhavsar 

nrupen.bhavsar@duke.edu

School of Medicine

I am a quantitative epidemiologist with methodological expertise in the design and analysis of observational studies that leverage data from cohort studies, registries, and the electronic health record (EHR). My background, training, and research is in the measurement and characterization of biomarkers, risk factors and treatment outcomes for chronic disease using real-world datasets. My primary research interests are in the use of novel sources of data, including the EHR, to conduct chronic disease research at the intersection of informatics, biostatistics, and epidemiology. My ongoing work aims to integrate informatics, epidemiology, and biostatistics to reduce the burden of chronic disease. I have topical expertise in multiple chronic diseases, including oncology, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease. In parallel, I have a portfolio of research that aims to understand the impact of social determinants of health, including dynamic neighborhood changes, such as gentrification, on the health of adults and children.            

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/nrupen.bhavsar

Cardiovascular, cancer, and kidney disease epidemiology; observational study design; electronic health record and claims data; informatics; social and environmental drivers of health, neighborhood change, gentrification 

Catherine Staton

catherine.staton@duke.edu

School of Medicine

I research access to quality health care in low and middle income countries both at the patient level and the national level.    

https://surgery.duke.edu/divisions/emergency-medicine/research/duke-emergency-medicine-and-global-health/global-emergency-medicine-innovation-and-implementation-research-gemini-lab

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/catherine.staton

I conduct emergency medicine access to health research globally with is greatly impacted by climate/ climate change and climate related disasters.

Mercedes Bravo

mercedes.bravo@duke.edu

School of Medicine

My research focuses on identifying and characterizing relationships between social and environmental exposures and disparities in health and developmental outcomes. I am particularly interested in advancing health equity through better characterization of disparities in exposures and disparities in health outcomes. Examples of my work include examining associations between air pollution, temperature, and health outcomes. 

https://scholars.duke.edu/person/Mercedes.Bravo

Collaborative work examining temperature and health, as well as ambient air pollution and wildfire-related PM2.5 and health