Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Policy and Health Services Research
Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Duke University
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The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) seeks a full-time Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with training in Health
Policy, Health Services Research, Public Policy, Epidemiology, Informatics/Statistics, Economics, Sociology or
related discipline. The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team of investigators working on a variety
of policy-relevant projects, with a focus on projects that are seeking to develop new models of delivering care to
persons with advanced, life limiting illness. The goal of the fellowship is to advance the intellectual and
professional development of the fellow as they transition toward being an independent researcher.
Funding, Role and Primary Tasks:
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Funded 100% by the Duke Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Award that is
demonstrating Community Based Palliative Care and assessing its impact on patient outcomes and costs
to the Medicare program and developing new ways for the Medicare program paying for palliative care
services. Funding can remain 100% on this project for 2 years. There will also be options to shift funding
to other projects based on shared interests.
The CMMI Innovation award is a demonstration project that is being implemented in 12 Western North
Carolina counties by Four Seasons Hospice, and Duke’s role in the project includes collection of quality
monitoring data; assessment of the acceptability of palliative care to patients, providers and others;
linking demonstration data with Medicare claims records using Duke’s Virtual Data Research Center
(VRDC) which is a secure linkage that allows access to CMS data; identifying propensity score matched
controls to allow for assessment of the impact of palliative care on cost to Medicare; the extrapolation of
the impact of palliative care on Medicare costs to simulate the impact of broad uptake of palliative care
nationally; and development of proposed modifications to the existing Medicare payment structure in
order to incentivize the increased use of palliative care. The post-doctoral fellow will work on all aspects
of this project described, working as a member of a growing interdisciplinary team.
The purpose of the post-doctoral fellowship is to both complete the work of the CMMI innovation award
as well to assist the fellow in developing their own research agenda. This will include working on grant
proposals that are of mutual interest to the DCRI and the fellow.
There are opportunities for the fellow to transition into a faculty position in one of several departments at the
Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University and/or the Duke
University Health Care System. Salary is commensurate with experience and background, and includes the full
Duke University benefit package. The fellowship is open immediately.
The fellow will be supervised by Donald H. Taylor, Jr. Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy, Duke University and Faculty
member, Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). To apply, please send a CV, a cover letter outlining the
candidate’s interests, and the names and contact information of 3 references. Please send materials via email to
Don Taylor (don.taylor@duke.edu) and Abby Hardaway (abigail.hardaway@dm.duke.edu) with DCRI Post Doc in
the message line with the noted items attached. The post is open until filled.