For this faculty spotlight, we are privileged to present Dr. Ranee Chatterjee (Montgomery). We want to introduce her personally and celebrate her new achievements. Notice how research throughout the health system is tapping into Chatterjee's talent for bridging clinical practice in collaboration with clinical research.
From Duke med school and back
Dr. Chatterjee was a Duke medical school graduate who left us for a residency at John Hopkins but returned to Duke in 2011 to further her career as a physician-scientist, continuing to integrate her interests in clinical medicine, research and academics. Last month we announced her promotion to associate professor of medicine and today we are keen to share the news of her role as “Associate Chief of Research” in general internal medicine.
Multiple connections in the medical center
No doubt multi-talented members like Dr. Chatterjee stretch their responsibilities in our midst. Dr. Chatterjee can be found collaborating with the Duke Clinical Translational & Science Institute (CTSI), the Primary Care Research Consortium (PCRC), and her general medicine clinical practice at Duke Health Center South Durham, a practice formerly known as Sutton Station Internal Medicine.
Background includes MPH and GIM Fellowship
Dr. Chatterjee writes “at heart, I consider myself a primary care provider. After completing residency at Johns Hopkins, I was only interested in practicing clinical medicine.”
Dr. Chatterjee writes “at heart, I consider myself a primary care provider. After completing residency at Johns Hopkins, I was only interested in practicing clinical medicine.” Yet, after practicing as a general internist for several years, she chose to return to academics to learn the skills needed to do clinical research and have a more broad impact on public health. Through the MPH program at Emory, she became interested in diabetes prevention. She continued to pursue this area of research in a GIM research fellowship at Hopkins and since joining faculty at Duke.
Research and clinical practice interests "to improve the health of our patients"
Dr. Chatterjee’s research interests involve identification of novel risk factors and interventions that could help with diabetes prevention and a vision to mitigate the racial disparity in diabetes risk. Being active in clinical practice complements her research and she expresses how gratifying it has been to "be in the same practice for 8 years"!
In addition to clinical practice and her own research initiatives, since joining Duke she tells us how much she likes being faculty of the Primary Care Research Consortium (PCRC). Chatterjee assists the PCRC director, Dr. Rowena Dolor, to facilitate research studies in primary care clinics. She promotes collaboration between research teams and clinical practices, all of whom have a common goal, which is to improve the health of our patients.
An extension of this role, her more recent position is the co-faculty lead of the CTSI’s Recruitment Innovations Center (RIC). In this position, she, along with Dr. Schuyler Jones, Jamie Roberts and their assembled team, are assisting efforts to enhance and optimize recruitment efforts for research at Duke.
New role as DGIM Associate Chief of Research
And, finally, as the DGIM Associate Chief of Research working with the division chief, Dr. Ebony Boulware, Dr. Chatterjee explains that she will:
- Begin reviewing the research that is currently taking place in GIM
- Recommend practices for improving scientific accountability
- Recommend safeguards to ensure data integrity
- Serve as the primary contact and resource for all inquiries surrounding data integrity and associated policies within the Division, and
- Help with strategic planning for research in the Division
Within the division, there are several groups. She anticipates bringing them together to share research best practices and also to share research ideas and enhance collaborations.
We asked about her passions and hobbies outside of the division.
My main hobby and favorite past time is spending time with my family. My husband and I have 2 teenage daughters and a 4 year-old Czech shepherd, Max. All keep us busy. We enjoy spending time outdoors as much as possible (hiking, biking, camping), but Max is usually the only one of our kids who is excited to participate in outdoor adventures. We have also been fortunate to have both sets of our parents move to the area. I get extra pleasure jogging, reading, baking (hence, my desire for novel interventions to prevent diabetes), and, although not as much recently, I like dabbling in art with drawing, painting, and stained glass work.
Any trips you've taken recently that you would like to share?
My family actually loves to travel! We have been fortunate to take several international trips, and we enjoy exploring the US. Over the past couple of years we were able to visit Peru and Sri Lanka. We have a goal to visit all of the National Parks in the US, so this year, we are planning to stay domestic with a trip to Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky.
Any recent books you’ve read that you’d like to share?
I am currently reading Becoming by Michelle Obama. It is a fun read, and I find her very “relatable!”