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 160 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 Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Cardiovascular Epidemiology: From Findings to Impact.
Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes · June 2025 Full text Link to item CiteIncidence and prevalence of dementia among US Medicare beneficiaries, 2015-21: population based study.
Journal Article BMJ · May 20, 2025 OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence and prevalence of dementia in a nationally representative cohort of US Medicare beneficiaries, stratified by important subgroups. DESIGN: Population based study. SETTING: Nationwide study between 2015 and 2021. PARTICI ... Full text Link to item CiteBurnout in modern-day health care: Where are we, and how can we markedly reduce it? A meta-narrative review from the EUREKA* project.
Journal Article Health Care Manage Rev · April 2025 BACKGROUND: Burnout is disrupting the health care workforce, threatening the livelihoods of health care workers and the probability of safe and effective patient care. PURPOSES: The aims of this study were to describe the evolution and gaps in burnout rese ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
PCORnet Governance, Collaboration, and Operations to Facilitate PCORnet(R) Studies of National Scope
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute · 2025 - 2028NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory-Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2028Evaluating the Implementation of High Intensity Home-Based Rehabilitation Following Stroke
ResearchCo-Mentor · Awarded by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024 - 2027View All Grants