Research opportunities are available for all residents, including residents with a prior track record of research experience (eg. MD, PhD residents), as well as those residents who do not have prior research experience but who desire research training and experience during residency training.
Learn more about our research offerings:
The Comprehensive Introduction to Clinical Research (CICR) course trains residents in the basic methodology of clinical research and study design, including clinical research methods in epidemiology, biostatistics, and database management.
This four-week course is designed for junior residents during their PGY-2 year who are interested in pursuing a clinical research career, patient-oriented clinical investigation, and research projects - and who also do not have previous research methods training or experience through a graduate degree (such as PhD or MPH). This course is directed by C. Barrett Bowling, MD, MSPH, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Juliessa Pavon, MD.
CICR instructors teach residents about the process of clinical research. Residents also learn about basic biostatistics, including database establishment, descriptive statistics, graphical display of data, simple hypothesis testing, categorical data analysis, sample-size estimation, and introductory regression analysis. Faculty from a variety of disciplines teach afternoon sessions devoted to clinical epidemiology research methods.
Course participants learn to critically appraise the literature when reading cohort, case-control, randomized controlled, or cross-over trials. Instruction in advanced computer-based literature search, preparation of a research proposal budget, legal and ethical issues in clinical research, and scientific writing instruction supplements this training. During the CICR course, each trainee must design a clinical research project to be reviewed by the CICR faculty. Many trainees use their project as the basis for subsequent patient-oriented research with a research mentor.
Residents who would like to pursue patient-oriented clinical investigation and research projects are encouraged to apply for a four-week course that is offered during the PGY-2 year. The structured curriculum of the Comprehensive Introduction to Clinical Research (ClinEpi) course provides training in basic methodology of clinical research and study design, including clinical research methods in epidemiology, biostatistics, and data base management.
The ABIM-approved Physician-Scientist Training Program is designed for individuals who have experience in biomedical research, are interested in research development, and wish to develop fundamental skills and expertise to conduct rigorous and original clinical investigation.
The Duke R38 Research Pathway for residents committed to a career as a physician investigator. This NIH-funded, ABIM-approved opportunity includes a 4-year Internal Medicine residency that incorporates 18-months of protected time for research sponsored by an R38 Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) grant.
The Robert J. Lefkowitz Society provides a home for MD and MD/PhD post-graduate trainees who are in the Duke University Department of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency and Fellowship programs and are pursuing careers with a primary focus on basic and translational research as physician-investigators. Learn more.
The Digital Health Training Program (DHTP), formerly the Learning Health Systems Training Program, is a 12-month curriculum for internal medicine residents and fellows who want to build fluency in health data, clinical informatics, and applied artificial intelligence (AI). Trainees complete four protected immersion weeks distributed across the academic year, learning directly from Duke Health leaders in data infrastructure, machine learning, quality improvement, and digital health strategy.
Each trainee leads a mentored, data-driven project from clinical question to findings, with funding support and a faculty mentor throughout the year. The program culminates in a capstone presentation to Duke University Health System leadership. DHTP alumni now serve as chief medical officers, chief digital officers, telehealth directors, and informatics faculty at Duke and nationally.