Congratulations 2026 Duke Clinical Leadership Program Graduates!
Congratulations to the 2026 graduates of the Duke Clinical Leadership Program! This 6-month longitudinal leadership program empowers new or emerging faculty leaders within Duke Health with increased awareness of health system operations and strategy, and practical leadership and management skill development. The program is a partnership between the School of Medicine and DUHS, led by Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Cary Ward, MD.
Each DCLP participant completed an individual project to apply knowledge and skills from the program to improve an issue within their clinical work unit. Project posters were presented at the program’s graduation session on June 2, 2026.
Project Award Winners
Five individuals were presented with the annual Thomas M. Gorrie Clinical Impact Awards for best exemplifying the project objectives and Duke’s values.
2026 winners pictured left to right:
- Nishant P. Shah, MD, Reshaping the Curve: Health-System Intervention to Improve Gaps in Care in Lipid Management
- Meera Gupta, MD MSCE FACS, Efficiency, Cost, & Quality Improvement Initiative in Living Kidney Donation: Developing A Systems Best Practice Model
- Daniela Kroshinsky, MD MPH, The use of standardized automated letters of medical necessity to address prior authorization induced clinical delay and clinician burden in Dermatology
- Pictured at Center: Thomas M. Gorrie, PhD, longtime friend and advocate to Duke
- Colleen Cowperthwait, PhD, Improving Referral Pathways and Access to Brief DBT Services Following Ambulatory Suicide Risk Screening
- Faye Farber, MD, From Variation to Value: Improving Care through Clinical Pathways
- Pictured on Right: DCLP Program Director Cary Ward, MD, Associate Dean for Faculty Development
"The Duke Clinical Leadership Program was tremendously impactful to my career! From the exposure to institutional leadership, learning how leaders across the system think about problems, one on one/group coaching, and the development of an outstanding network of colleagues, I have learned so much about myself and ways I can be most effective to my team and colleagues." -Nishant Shah, MD
One additional individual was competitively selected to join the CACHE-Department of Medicine Learning Collaborative, which provides a quality improvement framework training, support, and mentorship to further advance project goals.
Winner Jared R. Robbins, MD; Narrowing the Window: Practical Solutions for Overcome Treatment Delays in Starting Adjuvant Radiation After Head and Neck Cancer Surgery (left); pictured alongside Mike Pignone, MD, Director of CACHE (right).
Congratulations to all of the 2026 DCLP graduates!
2026 DCLP Cohort
- Joseph Cao, MD, Radiology
- Colleen Cowperthwait, PhD, Psychiatry
- Alex Cravanas, MD, Anesthesiology
- Brittany Davidson, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Christopher Dermarkarian, MD, Ophthalmology
- Faye Farber, MD, Medicine
- Colleen Ford, MD, Medicine
- Meera Gupta, MD, Surgery
- Jill Howard, PhD, Psychiatry
- Alexandra Jackson, MSN, Pediatrics
- Matthew Kappus, MD, Medicine
- Daniela Kroshinsky, MD, MPH, Dermatology
- John Lyles, MD, Pediatrics
- Seenamma Machireddy, MD, Family Medicine and Community Health
- Nidhi Mahendra, PhD, Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences
- Rebekah Moehring, MD, MPH, Medicine
- Frank Moya, MD, Ophthalmology
- G. Titus Ngeno, MSc, Medicine
- Aparna Rege, MD, Surgery
- Jared Robbins, MD, Radiation Oncology
- Brett Rocos, MB, ChB, MD, Orthopaedic Surgery
- Suma Shah, MD, Neurology
- Nishant Shah, MD, Medicine
- Betty Tong, MD, Surgery