Overview
Dr. Naomi Nichele Duke, MD, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor. Working at the intersection of medicine, sociology, and population health, Dr. Duke brings a unique perspective to address social drivers in maternal and child health and adult chronic disease onset. Her work focuses on advancing knowledge and advocacy efforts around the relevance of childhood social context for adult health and the intergenerational transmission of health, including morbidity and mortality related to stress physiology, perceptions of physical and emotional weathering, and health-related behaviors. A main area of interest is in understanding links between youth future orientation and actual trajectories of health. Her work includes focus on understanding relationships between shared sociocultural context and concordance and discordance in cardiometabolic outcomes across generations, including the transition from prediabetes to diabetes and timing in the development of hypertension. Dr. Duke is an academic affiliate with multiple multidisciplinary research collaborations, including the Duke Center for Child & Family Policy, the Duke University Population Research Institute, the Duke Center for the Study of Addictive Risk and Resilience, and the Duke Children’s Health & Discovery Initiative.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
·
2021 - Present
Pediatrics, General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health,
Pediatrics
Associate Professor of the Practice of Sociology
·
2024 - Present
Sociology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
Do Children's Mental Health Symptoms Impact Their Access to Unlocked Guns at Home?
Journal Article J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry · April 23, 2025 OBJECTIVE: To test whether changes in children's and adolescents' mental health symptoms predict changes in their access to unlocked guns at home. METHOD: This study used data from a longitudinal cohort study of 1,420 youth and their parents in the southea ... Full text Link to item CiteThe role of sleep disturbances in the onset and maintenance of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence: A review of subjective and polysomnographic findings.
Journal Article Curr Sleep Med Rep · September 2024 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize subjective and polysomnographically-measured sleep disturbances in children and adolescents with psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, mood, and neurodevelopmental disorders and high-risk syndromes for psychosis. Eviden ... Full text Link to item CiteFood insecurity among university students in the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journal Article J Am Coll Health · July 2024 OBJECTIVE: This study reports on food insecurity (FI) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: College students in four regions of the US completed the two-item validated Hunger Vital Sign™ screening tool on Qualtrics. RESULTS: FI increased ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Mid-Life Health Inequalities in the Rural South: Risk and Resilience
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Vermont · 2023 - 2028Add Health Parent Study: A Biosocial Resource for the Study of Multigenerational Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2023 - 2028Sustainable Habits for Encouraging Even Teen Sleep (SHEETS): A Digital Intervention to Enhance Sleep Regularity and Psychiatric Health in Adolescents
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2022 - 2026View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities ·
2017
Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities ·
2003
M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School ·
1996
M.D.