Community Partnership

Stelfanie Williams, vice president for community affairs, talks with Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams
Stelfanie Williams, Vice President for Community Affairs at Duke University and Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams.

Community Partnership

In alignment with Duke Health and Duke University, the Duke University School of Medicine is committed to serving others in our local community and beyond. Our faculty, staff and students make science-based decisions and seek to transform discoveries to improve human health through a variety of community initiatives, some of which are listed below.

 

Early College Partnership Between Duke Health, Durham Technical Community College and Durham Public Schools

Dean Klotman, Craig Albanese and members of Durham Technical College and Durham Public Schools

A partnership between Duke Health, Durham Technical Community College and Durham Public Schools has been awarded a transformative $29.5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to establish an early college for high school students interested in pursuing health care careers upon graduation. 

The Durham partnership will provide the preparation needed for careers in nursing, allied health, surgical tech, and clinical research. The key elements of the partnership are:

  • Interested Durham Public Schools (DPS) students in grades 9-12 will attend the early college high school and simultaneously earn both a high school diploma and an associate degree or workforce credential for aligned health care occupations. 
  • The Middle College at Durham Tech will expand to an early college high school and will be housed at Durham Tech (DTCC) in a newly renovated space, with the school opening in the fall of 2025.  
  • Upon graduation, students will have an immediate pathway to jobs or research roles at Duke Health.

Community Partnerships in the News

Duke NCCU Bridge office logo. A blue and a red arch over a silhouette of the state of North Carolina.

Duke-NCCU Partnership Honored with NIH Prize for Excellence in Diversity and Research

Duke University and North Carolina Central University recently received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize. The two schools were jointly awarded a $100,000 prize for demonstrating exceptional dedication and innovation in fostering DEIA within research environments. 

Latin-19 Logo

2023 Transformational Leadership Award LATIN-19 Executive Team

A diverse team of Duke faculty and community advocates created LATIN-19 (Latinx Advocacy Team and Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19) in March 2020 to advocate for and bring awareness to the needs of the Latinx community in North Carolina during the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Kanecia Zimmerman holding a sign that say "Safe Treatment"

The ABCs of Keeping Kids Healthy

As communities grappled with how to get children and teenagers back to school safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zimmerman, MD, MPHS, was confident that she and her colleagues at Duke could help. She saw questions that needed to be answered, and she went to work.

Additional Resources