The Duke CTSA KL2 program provides training opportunities and protected research effort for junior investigators. KL2 scholars will leave the 3-year program equipped with the skills to be successful, independent investigators, making contributions across the spectrum of clinical and translational science. This year, Michelle White, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Medicine, will join the program.
White is a pediatrician physician scientist whose research has focused on geographic factors contributing to health disparities in children, particularly obesity and cardiovascular disease. As a KL2 scholar she plans to focus on developing and testing a mobile health intervention that enhances modifiable family and neighborhood factors that promote healthy weight.
“I started my research journey doing international work and saw dramatic differences in health outcomes,” White said. “When I came back to the U.S., I saw disparate outcomes exist here, too, particularly in lower-income communities. I’m now interested in affecting those outcomes by developing interventions based on geographic data.”
White graduated from Duke Medical School in 2010, and returned in 2018 after residency, fellowship, and postdoctoral training to work closely with her research mentor, Eliana Perrin, MD, MPH. She is looking forward to developing the skills she needs to become an independent investigator driving intervention to eliminate health disparities in children.
“There is great work going on at Duke,” White said. “I’m looking forward to growing as a researcher and making the transition from descriptive research to intervention development in a community-engaged manner.”