Through a recently awarded K12 grant, the Department of Population Health Sciences will train Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) scholars to use rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods that will impact cardiovascular health outcomes. The program will be spearheaded by its Program Director, Hayden B. Bosworth, PhD, and Associate Director, Ebony Boulware, MD, PhD.
Scholars will train through a mentor/mentee relationship, leveraging the diverse expertise of 38 mentors trained in mixed/methods/evaluation, health services research and outcomes, pragmatic clinical trials, and health policy. The program will recruit five scholars who will work with at least two mentors and train for two to three years—gaining the knowledge, investigative skills, and a body of work to demonstrate competence as an independent investigator. At its conclusion, scholars are expected to land an NIH or other funding agency award.
“We see an increased need to more effectively and efficiently translate exciting findings into care, and to accomplish this, the Department of Population Health Sciences is honored to be training the next cohort of Dissemination and Implementation scientists,” said Dr. Bosworth. The K12 program will ensure an adequate supply of well-trained researchers to confront cardiovascular outcomes.
Candidates will be recruited from inside and outside the School of Medicine with a specific effort to attract minority scientists. Potential scholars will be identified during the last year of their clinical fellowship in internal medicine, endocrinology, cardiology, or geriatrics, or in the last year of postdoctoral fellowship for PhD applicants.
Program Director: Dr. Bosworth has significant experience with the dissemination and implementation of behavioral interventions for hypertension, diabetes, sleep disorders, sickle cell, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. In addition, his expertise in developing and implementing interventions to improve health behaviors and reduce the burden of chronic diseases will be an asset to this training grant. Dr. Bosworth has mentored over 65 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, including 25 career development awardees. His responsibilities include oversight of the training program.
Associate Director, Ebony Boulware, MD, PhD
Associate Director: Dr. Ebony Boulware is Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine; Director, Center for Community and Population Health Improvement; and Vice Dean for Translational Science, Duke University School of Medicine. She is a general internist and clinical epidemiologist and has devoted the majority of her research to improving access and quality of care to patients with chronic kidney, cardiovascular, and related diseases. She has mentored over 35 trainees at the student, resident, fellow, and faculty levels to develop their careers in academia, public health, health system leadership and health policy, including mentoring multiple F32, T32, Diversity Supplement, and K23 awardees.