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 Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Long-term safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine: Results from the HERO-together study.
Journal Article Respir Med · June 2026 BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccines were initially authorized based on short-term data from Phase 3 clinical trials in a highly selected population. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the long-term safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 and variati ... Full text Link to item CiteAssociation Between Discrimination in Health Care and ASCVD Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in the United States.
Journal Article Circ Popul Health Outcomes · May 1, 2026 BACKGROUND: Discrimination in health care can influence patient behavior and potentially lead to poor quality care. When patients perceive discrimination, they may disengage from health care, have heightened stress, and identify biased treatment practices. ... Full text Link to item CiteEvaluating fitness-for-use of electronic health records in ascertaining baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes in clinical trials: insights from the VESALIUS EHR demonstration project.
Journal Article Trials · April 25, 2026 INTRODUCTION: A tremendous amount of clinical data is collected and stored in electronic health records (EHRs). Whether this data can be harnessed at scale to facilitate clinical trial conduct remains to be seen. METHODS: The Effect of Evolocumab in Patien ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent 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 - 2030PCORnet 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 - 2028View All Grants