Unlike many fellowship programs, our fellows are able to earn advanced degrees during their subspecialty training. This is not just a possibility, but rather an option that our fellows routinely pursue. We encourage each trainee who is interested in clinical research and who does not already possess an advanced research degree to pursue a master’s degree, an advanced diploma in a relevant area, or complete other graduate-level coursework appropriate to their training needs. Our fellowship has a longstanding relationship with several degree- or diploma-granting programs at Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH):
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Master and Doctorate of Public Health (MPH, PhD, DrPH) at the UNC-CH Gillings School of Global Public Health, which offers degree programs in biostatistics, epidemiology, health behavior, health policy and management, and maternal and child health. The school is consistently ranked among the top 3 public health schools in the US. Our fellows have taken advantage of Duke's proximity (~15 mins) to the UNC-CH School of Global Public Health to obtain an MPH or PhD in a wide variety of disciplines, including epidemiology and biostatistics. We have a proven system for facilitating our fellows’ matriculation and completion of these valuable degrees, distinguishing our fellowship program from those at other institutions. An MPH can be obtained during the two research years of fellowship, with the Master’s thesis serving as the fellowship work project. Fellows have also completed the coursework for a PhD during a fourth year of fellowship, completing their dissertations and receiving their degree after assuming a junior faculty position.
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Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy offers advanced training in clinical pharmacology with dedicated coursework in pharmacokinetics, metabolism, pharmacogenomics, trial design, and biostatistics.
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Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) through the Duke Global Health Institute is one of the first programs of its kind in the US and is designed to support trainees interested in pursuing a career in global health research. Students gain a solid foundation in the methods for conducting research in a global setting, with an emphasis on ethics and working in cross-cultural settings.
Master in Health Sciences in Clinical Research (MSCR) at the Duke School of Medicine includes in-depth training in biostatistics, clinical research design and methodology, and health economics. Fellows have the option to pursue the 36-credit degree program (24 credits of coursework and 12 credits for research) or complete a certificate program composed of 5 core courses.
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Basic Science Graduate Courses, at the advisement of each trainee’s Scholarship Oversight Committee, could include the following: MGM 732 Human Genetics, MGM 552 Virology, MGM 582 Microbial Pathogenesis, MGM 720 Computational Tools in Next Generation Genomic Analysis, MGM 778 Genetic Approaches to the Solutions of Biological Problems, MGM 725 Medical Mycology, IMM 621 Immunology of Human Diseases, and UPGEN 533 Genetic Epidemiology.