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Lesley H. Curtis

Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences
Duke Box 104023, Durham, NC 27708
215 Morris Street, Suite 210, Durham, NC 27701

Overview


Lesley H. Curtis is Chair and Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences and Professor in Medicine in the Duke School of Medicine.  A health services researcher by training, Dr. Curtis is an expert in the use of health care and Medicare claims data for health services and clinical outcomes research, and a leader in national data quality efforts. Dr. Curtis has led the linkage of Medicare claims with several large clinical registries and epidemiological cohort studies including the Framingham Heart Study and the Cardiovascular Health Study. Dr. Curtis recently served as a senior policy advisor at the Food and Drug Administration supporting the Agency’s evidence generation initiative, serves as an Investigator in the Coordinating Center for PCORI's PCORnet, and is co-PI of the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory, an NIH initiative to strengthen the national capacity for large-scale research studies embedded in health care delivery.

Areas of expertise: Health Services Research and Health Policy

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2021 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments
Professor in Medicine · 2020 - Present Medicine, General Internal Medicine, Medicine
Chair of Population Health Sciences · 2025 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments
Member in the Duke Clinical Research Institute · 2000 - Present Duke Clinical Research Institute, Institutes and Centers
Executive 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 April 15, 2022
School of Medicine Celebrates 2022 Faculty Achievement Awards
Published January 10, 2022
DCRI Celebrates 25 Years of Improving Health Around the World
Published November 19, 2019
Global List of Highly Cited Puts Duke in Top Ten

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Recent Publications


Monitoring in pragmatic trials lessons from the NIH pragmatic trials collaboratory.

Journal Article Contemp Clin Trials · February 25, 2025 The distinguishing characteristics of pragmatic clinical trials merits special attention when developing a monitoring plan. Pragmatic clinical trials are large in scope; participants are often identified from records or routinely collected data; investigat ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Unified Approach to Health Data Exchange: A Report From the US DHHS.

Journal Article JAMA · January 18, 2025 IMPORTANCE: Health information technology, such as electronic health records (EHRs), has been widely adopted, yet accessing and exchanging data in the fragmented US health care system remains challenging. To unlock the potential of EHR data to improve pati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of electronic health record updates and changes on the delivery and monitoring of interventions in embedded pragmatic clinical trials.

Journal Article Contemp Clin Trials · January 2025 The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory supports the design and conduct of 32 embedded pragmatic clinical trials, and many of these trials rely on data from the electronic health record (EHR) to monitor outcomes and/or use functionality provided by the EHR ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Nurse LEADS: Training in Nurse-LEd models of care ADdressing the Social Determinants of Health

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

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

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

A Life Course Approach to Identify Risks of Hospitalization in Older Adults with Heart Failure

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2027

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Rochester · 2000 Ph.D.