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Emily O'Brien

Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences
215 Morris Street, Suite 210, Durham, NC 27701

Overview


Dr. Emily O’Brien is Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences, Associate Professor in Neurology, Core Faculty Member at Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy,  and Co-Director of Population Health Sciences at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Her research focuses on comparative effectiveness, patient-centered outcomes, and pragmatic health systems research in cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. Her areas of expertise include: Epidemiology, Pragmatic Clinical Trials, and Clinical Decision Sciences. Dr. O’Brien received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. As principal investigator for projects funded by the FDA, NIH, and PCORI, she has extensive experience working with diverse data sources including registries, epidemiologic cohorts, electronic health records, and administrative claims data. Dr. O’Brien teaches Analytic Methods in the Department of Population Health Sciences PhD program and has co-authored over 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals on topics ranging from epidemiologic methods, comparative effectiveness, and pragmatic clinical trials. She is an associate editor for Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, Chair of the AHA QCOR Scientific & Clinical Education Lifelong Learning Committee, social media editor for the Journal of the American Heart Association, and a fellow of the American Heart Association.

Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2021 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments
Associate Professor in Neurology · 2020 - Present Neurology, Clinical Science Departments
Membership in the Duke Clinical Research Institute · 2013 - Present Duke Clinical Research Institute, Institutes and Centers
Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy · 2024 - Present Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, University Institutes and Centers

Recent News Items


Published April 13, 2020
Health Care Workers Encouraged to Join COVID-19 Clinical Trial Registry
Published May 3, 2018
Population Health Learning Network
Minor bleeding not tied to risk of major bleeding in AF patients
Published November 16, 2016
Everyday Health
Many With Common Atrial Fibrillation Unaware of Stroke Risk

View All News Items

Recent Scholarly Works


Cardiovascular Multimorbidity and Associated Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Dually Eligible for Medicaid.

Journal article J Am Heart Assoc · August 4, 2026 BACKGROUND: Patients dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid have higher mortality rates and disparate outcomes for acute cardiovascular conditions compared with those eligible for Medicare alone. However, the association between dual eligibility, cardio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Novel Recruitment, Data Collection, and Safety Reporting Methods in the Era of COVID-19: Design of a Post-Emergency Use Authorization COVID-19 Vaccination Safety-Surveillance Study

Conference Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety · July 1, 2026 Purpose: Within one week of the Food and Drug Administration granting the COVID-19 vaccine Emergency Use Authorization, the HERO-Together study launched. We describe how the study utilized novel methods for streamlined enrollment and longitudinal data coll ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Unified Program for Therapeutics in Children

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 2025 - 2030

PCORnet Governance, Collaboration, and Operations to Facilitate PCORnet(R) Studies of National Scope

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute · 2025 - 2028

NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory-Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2028

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Education


University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2012 Ph.D.