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
Recent Publications
Racial and ethnic disparities in longitudinal trajectories of hospitalizations in patients diagnosed with heart failure.
Journal Article Am Heart J · September 2025 BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic disparities in hospitalizations among heart failure (HF) patients have been well documented. However, little is known about racial and ethnic differences in the long-term trajectories of hospital admissions that follow the dia ... Full text Link to item CiteJACC Data Report: Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Trends in the United States (1999-2023).
Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · July 1, 2025 Full text Link to item CiteImproving Medical Device Safety Surveillance: Bridging Capability and Commitment.
Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · May 6, 2025 Full text Link to item CiteRecent 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 - 2029NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory-Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2028A Life Course Approach to Identify Risks of Hospitalization in Older Adults with Heart Failure
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute on Aging · 2022 - 2027View All Grants