DGHI Expands Faculty with New Members and Affiliates

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Published November 21, 2017 under Research News

In the past few months, the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) has welcomed nine new faculty members and two new affiliates. Affiliates are faculty members from across the university with a demonstrated interest in global health who collaborate with DGHI on research, education, service or policy activities.

These new faculty represent a wide range of academic disciplines, including surgery, statistical science,  infectious diseases, engineering, pediatrics, nephrology and more.

New Faculty

SUSAN EMMETT 
Assistant Professor of Surgery and Global Health 

Susan_EmmettSusan Emmett’s research focuses on reducing disparities in global hearing health. Working with collaborators around the world, Emmett studies the social, economic and health effects of hearing loss and evaluates pathways for prevention. Emmett is committed to expanding access to cochlear implants, a treatment for severe to profound hearing loss that is often limited to high-resource settings. Emmett is the first otolaryngologist to be named a TED Fellow.

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AMY HERRING
Professor of Statistical Science and Global Health

Amy_HerringAmy Herring’s research interests include development of statistical methodology for longitudinal or clustered data and applications of statistics in population health and medicine. She has received numerous awards for her work and she holds leadership positions at national and international levels. Her research program is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Herring came to Duke from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was distinguished professor of biostatistics.

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MYAING MYAING NYUNT
Instructor, Temporary (Associate Professor pending), Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Myaing_NyuntMyaing Myaing Nyunt has designed and led clinical and field research on malaria and malaria treatment outcomes in the United States, Zambia, Mali, China and Bangladesh. She has also established and directs a rapidly growing malaria research program in Myanmar, funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Society Foundations. Before joining the Duke Global Health Institute, Dr. Nyunt was an assistant professor of international health at Johns Hopkins University and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

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WILLIAM “MONTY” REICHERT
Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Research Professor of Global Health

Monty_ReichertMonty Reichert’s research interests have included biosensors, protein mediated cell adhesion, wound healing and biocompatibilty. Reichert spent the 2014-2015 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in the fledgling biomedical engineering (BME) program at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda—an experience that transformed his professional priorities from domestic biomedical research to building BME capacity at Makerere University and in Uganda. He is the director of the Duke-Makerere BME Partnership.

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MEGAN RELLER
Instructor, Temporary (Associate Professor pending), Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Photo_Not_AvailableMegan Reller’s current projects include research on severe viral lower respiratory tract infections, rickettsial infections and dengue infection diagnosis. After her medical residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Rochester, she completed multiple clinical and research fellowships at Emory University, Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Prior to coming to Duke, Reller was an assistant professor in pathology, medicine and international health at Johns Hopkins University.

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KRISTIN SCHROEDER
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Global Health

Kristin_SchroederKristin Schroeder’s research focuses on developing capacity for pediatric cancer care, creating interventions to improve pediatric cancer outcomes and reducing treatment abandonment in low resource settings. Since 2014, she has spent six or more months per year in Mwanza, Tanzania, at the Bugando Medical Centre as part of the Duke Global Cancer Program. Schroeder co-founded the NGO i-ccare to further support pediatric cancer care in low resource settings.

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JOHN STANIFER
Medical Instructor, Nephrology, and Assistant Research Professor of Global Health

John_StaniferJohn Stanifer is a nephrologist and clinical researcher with a focus on investigating health disparities in chronic kidney disease. His research interests include chronic disease epidemiology and mixed-methods studies. Stanifer completed his residency training in internal medicine and global health at Duke, completing DGHI’s Master of Science in Global Health program in 2014. He also completed his sub-specialty training in nephrology at Duke, and during that time, he also completed a fellowship in clinical research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, where he served as chief fellow in 2016-2017.

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DORI STEINBERG 
Assistant Research Professor and Associate Director of the Duke Global Digital Health Science Center 

Dori_SteinbergDori Steinberg’s research focuses primarily on technology-based interventions for weight control, dietary change, and chronic disease management among adults—in particular, how we can leverage connected mobile devices to improve adherence to self-monitoring behaviors. Steinberg started at Duke as a postdoctoral fellow in 2012 with the Duke Obesity Prevention Program, and prior to her faculty appointment, Steinberg was a research scholar at DGHI. In addition to earning a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she is also a registered dietitian.

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STEVE TAYLOR
Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health

Steve_TaylorSteve Taylor is an infectious diseases clinician and is transitioning to independence as a laboratory-based investigator in translational studies of falciparum malaria in children and pregnant women. In addition to delivering seminars, contributing to courses, and mentoring Master of Science in Global Health students, he anticipates designing projects with DGHI field partners in Eldoret, Kenya, and enhancing nascent research efforts in Kigali, Rwanda.

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NEW AFFILIATES

DREW SHINDELL
Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences
Nicholas School of the Environment, Earth and Ocean Sciences Division

Drew_ShindellDrew Shindell’s research concerns natural and human drivers of climate change, linkages between air quality and climate change and the interface between climate change science and policy. From 1995 to 2014, Shindell was a scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, and he taught atmospheric chemistry at Columbia University for more than a decade. He has been an author on more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, received numerous awards, and has testified on climate issues before both houses of the U.S. Congress, the UNFCCC and the World Bank.

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JOÃO RICARDO NICKENING VISSOCI
Assistant Professor of Surgery/Emergency Medicine

Joao_VissociJoão Ricardo Vissoci’s research interests include research methods and innovation applied to access and quality of care and primary care, and global mental health with emphasis on mental health reintegration. Dr. Vissoci has actively worked in Brazil looking into population health, health systems and quality of care, and in Tanzania and Uganda with a focus on traumatic brain injury mental health reintegration. Prior to joining the faculty in the Department of Surgery, he was a post-doctoral fellow for one year at DGHI.

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