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Courtney Harold Van Houtven

Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences
Duke Box 3240, Durham, NC 27708
2424 Erwin Rd, Hock Plaza, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Dr. Courtney Van Houtven is a Professor in The Department of Population Health Science, Duke University School of Medicine and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. She is also a Research Career Scientist in The Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT), Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Dr. Van Houtven’s aging and economics research interests encompass long-term care financing, intra-household decision-making, unpaid family and friend care, and home- and community-based services. She examines how family caregiving affects health care utilization, expenditures, health and work outcomes of care recipients and caregivers. She is also interested in understanding how best to support family caregivers to optimize caregiver and care recipient outcomes.

Dr. Van Houtven  is co-PI on the QUERI Program Project, “Optimizing Function and Independence”, in which her caregiver skills training program developed as an RCT in VA, now called Caregivers FIRST, has been implemented at 125 VA sites nationally. The team will evaluate how intensification of an implementation strategy changes adoption. She directs the VA-CARES Evaluation Center, which evaluates the VA’s Caregiver Support Program. She leads a mixed methods R01 study as PI from the National Institute on Aging that will assess the value of "home time" for persons living with dementia and their caregivers (RF1 AG072364).

Areas of expertise: Health Services Research and Health Economics

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2021 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments
Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy · 2024 - Present Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published June 4, 2019
How Building Better Care Teams Can Improve Health Care for Seriously Ill Seniors

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Recent Publications


Family-involved interventions may offer unique benefits for Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experiencing high family strain.

Journal Article Psychol Trauma · February 10, 2025 OBJECTIVE: Family strain, which reflects the overall function of the family system, could play an important role in routine posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) care. We examined how high/low family strain influences perceptions of a family-involved interv ... Full text Link to item Cite

Economic costs of family caregiving for persons with advanced stage cancer: a longitudinal cohort study.

Journal Article J Cancer Surviv · February 2025 PURPOSE: To form a multifaceted picture of family caregiver economic costs in advanced cancer. METHODS: A multi-site cohort study collected prospective longitudinal data from caregivers of patients with advanced solid tumor cancers. Caregiver survey and ou ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trajectories of Disability and Long-Term Care Utilization After Acute Health Events.

Journal Article J Aging Soc Policy · January 2, 2025 Hip fractures, strokes, and heart attacks are common acute health events that can lead to long-term disability, care utilization, and unmet needs. However, such impacts, especially in the long term, are not fully understood. Using data from the Health and ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Duke/UNC ADAR Program

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029

Reducing Polypharmacy and Fall Risk for Multi-Morbid Adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

ResearchCo-Mentor · Awarded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute · 2022 - 2026

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2000 Ph.D.