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Michael J Pencina

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Biostatistics
Duke Box 2927, Durham, NC 27710
200 Trent Drive, M144 Davison Bldg, Durham, NC 27705
Office hours

8:00am - 5:00pm ET

  

Overview


Michael J. Pencina, PhD
Chief Data Scientist, Duke Health
Vice Dean for Data Science
Director, Duke AI Health
Professor, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Duke University School of Medicine

Michael J. Pencina, PhD, is Duke Health's chief data scientist and serves as vice dean for data science, director of Duke AI Health, and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at the Duke University School of Medicine. His work bridges the fields of data science, health care, and AI, contributing to Duke’s national leadership in responsible health AI.

Dr. Pencina partners with key leaders to develop data science strategies for Duke Health that span and connect academic research and clinical care. As vice dean for data science, he develops and implements quantitative science strategies to support the School of Medicine’s missions in education and training, laboratory and clinical science, and data science.

He co-founded and co-leads the national Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), a multi-stakeholder effort whose mission is to increase trustworthiness of AI by developing guidelines to drive high-quality health care through the implementation of innovative, credible, and transparent health AI systems. He serves in a leadership capacity for the Trustworthy & Responsible AI Network (TRAIN), a new organization Duke co-founded with leading health care and technology organizations to develop tools and technologies that promote the adoption of high-quality, novel, and safe health AI solutions for patient care and research. He also spearheaded establishing and co-chairs Duke Health’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee.

Dr. Pencina is an internationally recognized authority in the evaluation of AI algorithms. Guideline groups rely on his work to advance best practices for the application of clinical decision support tools in health delivery. He interacts frequently with investigators from academic and industry institutions as well as government officials. Since 2014, Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics has regularly recognized Dr. Pencina as one of the world’s "highly cited researchers" in clinical medicine and social sciences, with more than 400 publications cited over 135,000 times. He serves as a deputy editor for statistics at JAMA-Cardiology.

Dr. Pencina joined the Duke University faculty in 2013, and served as director of biostatistics for the Duke Clinical Research Institute until 2018. Previously, he was an associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Boston University and the Framingham Heart Study, and director of statistical consulting at the Harvard Clinical Research Institute. He received his PhD in Mathematics and Statistics from Boston University in 2003 and holds master’s degrees from the University of Warsaw in actuarial mathematics and business culture.

Email: michael.pencina@duke.edu

Web Sites:  medschool.duke.edu; aihealth.duke.edu; https://scholars.duke.edu/person/michael.pencina

Phone:  919.613.9066

Address:  Duke University School of Medicine; 2424 Erwin Road, Suite 903; Durham, NC 27705

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics · 2025 - Present Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Biostatistics, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Vice Dean, Data Science and Information Technology · 2018 - Present School of Medicine
Director of Duke AI Health · 2021 - Present School of Medicine
Membership in the Duke Clinical Research Institute · 2013 - Present Duke Clinical Research Institute, Institutes and Centers

In the News


Published May 23, 2025
Provost Launches AI Initiative and Steering Committee
Published March 13, 2024
Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) Announces Founding Partners
Published March 11, 2024
New consortium of healthcare leaders announces formation of Trustworthy & Responsible AI Network (TRAIN), making safe and fair AI accessible to every healthcare organization

View All News

Recent Publications


Pragmatic Approaches to the Evaluation and Monitoring of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association.

Journal Article Circulation · December 9, 2025 The rapid development and integration of artificial intelligence (AI), including predictive, generative, and emerging agentic tools, into cardiovascular and stroke care is outpacing traditional evaluation frameworks and the generation of robust clinical ev ... Full text Link to item Cite

Age and Sex-Specific Percentiles of 30-Year Cardiovascular Disease Risk Based on the PREVENT Equations.

Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · November 25, 2025 BACKGROUND: Current primary prevention guidelines recommend estimation of long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among younger adults to enable preventive efforts earlier in the life course. However, conceptualizing absolute risk estimates over this t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Overall Mortality and Comorbidities in Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Poland.

Journal Article Med Sci Monit · November 25, 2025 BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased risk of systemic comorbidities, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. This study investigates predictors of all-cause and OSA-related mortality, emphasizing the interplay of cl ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


1/3 CTSA UM1 at Duke University

ResearchFaculty Member · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2032

2/3 CTSA K12 Program at Duke University

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2030

Implementation partner-guided strategy to promote health equity in ICU prognostication

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2029

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Education, Training & Certifications


Boston University · 2003 Ph.D.