The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) has an on-going comprehensive mission to provide rigorous training in clinical research to fellows and junior faculty both at Duke University Medical Center and from other institutions around the world.

The DCRI faculty are a multidisciplinary group including clinician researchers, biostatisticians, health economists, and health services researchers. Currently, the DCRI comprises approximately 900 employees, including more than 100 faculty from all disciplines.

The DCRI offers a living laboratory for investigators of the future by combining faculty interests in specific research questions with the multifaceted environment needed to do outcome-based studies.

Trainees at the DCRI have the opportunity to experience first hand the features of conducting domestic and international clinical trials and outcomes studies including activities such as protocol development, study operations, continuing medical education curricula development, clinical events adjudication, as well as operational functions such as project and data management, site management, and utilization of information technology specific to multi-center clinical research studies.

With a long history of providing training for clinical research, DCRI alumni are now conducting clinical research in a variety of studies around the world. The core principles of clinical research training at the DCRI include the following:

• On-going and direct mentorship from DCRI research faculty.


• Integration into on-going clinical trials and outcomes research projects.


• Access for analyses of numerous databases from clinical trials and registries.


• Optional didactic research training and completion of requirements for a Masters of Trial Services Degree in clinical research. See Master’s in Clinical Research program


• Regular dissemination of new advances in clinical research with a variety of educational modalities.

Educational Opportunities

DCRI fellows attend a weekly DCRI Clinical Research Conference in which fellows, faculty and visiting researchers present work in progress. The topics are designed to address all areas of research interest. DCRI Research Fellows will be expected to make a presentation at a given research conference at least once during their two year research fellowship to discuss their on-going research project.

Additionally, there is a monthly DCRI Fellows lunch seminar lecture series. where the fellows have the opportunity to present their research findings and learn practical details regarding career planning, grant submission, and other topics.

DCRI Research Fellowships

The following therapeutic and outcomes research areas within the DCRI sponsor fellowship programs:

• Cardiovascular
• Center for Clinical and Genetic Economics (CCGE)
• Central Nervous System (CNS)
• GI/Hepatology
• Imaging
• Infectious Diseases
• Pediatrics
• Nephrology

Multidisciplinary Interactions

A critical component of the training program is the interaction between the clinician researchers and statisticians.

The philosophy of the training program is that the most successful investigators will be able to combine superior knowledge in their field of clinical specialty with quantitative principles in an interactive, teamwork oriented environment.

Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in coursework for the Clinical Research Training Program to obtain a Masters in Health Sciences in Clinical Research during their research fellowship at DCRI.

This program offers in-depth training regarding biostatistics, clinical research design and methodology, cost-effectiveness research, and health economics. More details are available at http://crtp.mc.duke.edu/ .