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.
Featured Partnership: Duke Early College of Health Sciences
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.
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.
Early College Partnership Will Forge More Paths to Careers in Health Care
Meet two Duke Health employees who found their calling thanks to a community collaboration with Durham Technical Community College and Durham Public Schools that's poised to help many others find careers in health care.
A Matter of Faith: Duke Health Partners with A.M.E. Zion Pastors to Rebuild Trust in Health Care
Duke Health is working to rebuild trust in health care by partnering with pillars of the Black community: A.M.E. Zion pastors who have long been pivotal in the struggle for justice, equality, and civil rights. Partnering with pastors makes sense—after all, they’re in the healing business too.
Duke Receives Grant Aimed at Improving Health of Durham Residents
Duke Health, in partnership with the Durham County Department of Public Health, has been awarded a grant totaling $750,000 from The Duke Endowment to support a coalition aimed at improving the health and well-being of Durham residents.
President Price Applauds Research, Innovation at Duke Kannapolis Campus
Duke University President Vincent E. Price visited Duke’s clinical research office at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis today. Duke Kannapolis demonstrates Duke’s commitment to advancing community health and improving lives across the state.
MURDOCK study's COVID-19 project contributes to NC research network that monitors Coronavirus in sewer systems
A Duke COVID-19 study tracking the pandemic in Cabarrus County is contributing data to a statewide research network monitoring the coronavirus in sewer systems to help inform the public health response in North Carolina.
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.
LATIN-19 Co-founders discuss COVID-19's impact on the Latinx community
Duke University School of Medicine Dean Mary E. Klotman, MD, talks with co-founders of Duke’s LATIN-19 initiative Viviana S. Martinez-Bianchi, MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, and Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Latinx community and LATIN-19’s organized efforts to advocate for needs of this community of people.
Duke’s MURDOCK Study Launches COVID-19 Research in Cabarrus County
Duke’s MURDOCK Study has launched a COVID-19 research project to follow the health of hundreds of North Carolina volunteers for several months. The study will also test a sub-group for COVID-19 infection and potential immunity to the novel coronavirus that causes the disease.
Duke Medical Students Bridge the Classroom with Community Through Root Causes
Root Causes was founded by students aiming to create an organizational space to support the engagement of health professional students in service, education, and advocacy related to the social drivers of health. The goal is to shift the patient care paradigm to include elements like healthy food as a direct part of care provision.