Congratulations to Clarissa Diamantidis, MD, and Joanna Kipnes, MD, MS who are receiving distinguished academic promotions in the division of General Internal Medicine. They are both being promoted to Associate Professor, effective September 1, 2019.
“It gives me tremendous pleasure to announce two faculty member promotions to Associate Professor. As you know, these academic promotions mark faculty members’ scholarly achievements and are a hallmark of professional accomplishment in our school. Faculty appointed to Associate Professor or Full Professor have achieved recognition within Duke and at peer institutions as leaders in their fields both nationally and/or internationally.”
- L. Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH – Chief, Duke GIM
Clarissa Diamantidis, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, effective September 1, 2019
Dr. Diamantidis joined our Duke faculty in the Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Nephrology in September 2014. She has achieved national recognition for her research and is a highly valued faculty member of the Division of General Internal Medicine, the Division of Nephrology, the Department of Medicine, the Durham VA Medical Center, and the Department of Population Health Sciences. She has established herself as an expert in the application of patient-centered educational programs in kidney diseases. These include a patient safety agenda that studies the use and evaluation of digital tools to provide educational programs to low literacy populations
She completed her house staff training in Internal Medicine here at Duke University and her fellowship in Nephrology and Masters of Health Science degree in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. She continues to study the role of health information technology-based interventions in improving patients’ kidney health. Dr. Diamantidis was the PI of the STOP-DKD study, an R01 clinical trial examining the effectiveness of a multifactorial telehealth intervention to improve kidney outcomes in Duke Primary Care patients with early diabetic kidney disease.
Outside of Duke, Dr. Diamantidis reputation as a dedicated kidney disease scholar is well-known. Regionally, she is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation of North Carolina, Nationally, she is a member of the Education Committee of the National Kidney Foundation. Further, she is actively involved in the American Society of Nephrology and the Network of Minority Research Investigators. She has presented her research at numerous national forums, and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications.
Joanna Kipnes, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Medicine, effective September 1, 2019
Dr. Kipnes has served in a number of critical roles as a faculty member at Duke that integrate her interests and expertise in clinical care, medical education, quality improvement, and systems-based practice. She is a valued clinical teacher for medical students, house officers, and other trainees directly on the wards. Dr. Kipnes is also a skilled clinical administrator. She devotes about one-third of her time in a number of systems-based practice roles, most notably as the Medical Director of Utilization Management for the entire health system.
Dr. Kipnes has distinguished herself as an outstanding hospitalist and a caring member of our Duke community. She won the Top Hospitalist of the Year Award in 2015. She also won the hospital’s Strength, Hope, and Caring Award in 2011 as part of a team who assisted a dying patient to have one of her final wishes honored. This award is presented to employees who go well beyond expectations and whose actions reflect the very core of who we are as an organization. She was nominated for this award a second time in 2014. It is evident from Dr. Kipnes’ evaluations that residents and medical students recognize Dr. Kipnes’ skill in teaching on the wards and also the practical systems-based knowledge that she brings to clinical care.
On a local level, Dr. Kipnes is recognized as a leader in the health system both as Medical Director for Utilization as well as an expert in systems-based care. On a national level, the Complex Care Plan work for patients with high utilization has been recognized as an innovative solution for these patients and is being emulated by many institutions.