News

A new study used measurable metrics of health over time to create a more quantitative view of how stress early in life affects health. The researchers are using the study to determine the need for mental health services.

Why do so many children in India receive antibiotics for diarrhea when guidelines call for oral rehydration salts instead? A new study, co-authored by Manoj Mohanan, finds that the main culprit is not a lack of knowledge, financial incentives, or shortages of recommended treatments. Rather, it is a persistent “know-do gap”: providers know the guidelines but prescribe differently because they mistakenly believe parents expect antibiotics.

In a new article, "Optimal F‑score Matching for Bipartite Record Linkage," published in Statistics and Computing (July 2025), Eric A. Bai, Olivier Binette, and DUPRI Scholar Jerome P. Reiter propose a novel approach to record linkage that directly optimizes the F‑score — the harmonic mean of precision and recall.

A study led by DUPRI scholar Ben Goldstein is using machine learning to uncover hidden patterns in children’s health records — patterns that may signal autism before diagnosis. This groundbreaking research could lead to earlier support for kids and families.

Obesity is growing, but not necessarily because we’re lazier. A new Duke study, published in PNAS, points instead to higher caloric intake as the primary driver, suggesting that diet rather than idleness plays a larger role in the global obesity crisis.

A new publication in the journal Childhood Obesity by DUPRI Scholars Michelle White and James Moody, DUPRI student Madelynn Wellons, and a group of co-authors examines how parent social network characteristics affect child obesity and health behaviors.

DUPRI Scholar and Associate Professor in the School of Nursing Hanzhang Xu has been awarded a 5-year NIH grant to Study Alzheimer's and Dementia Care in Asia. The grant is titled "Characterizing Family Structure, Care Utilization, and Well-Being among Persons with ADRD in the Asian Region." DUPRI Scholars Matthew Dupre and Scott Lynch are co-Investigators on the grant, which is administered through the National Institute of Aging.

Two new papers by a team of authors that includes DUPRI Scholars Matthew Dupre, Scott Lynch, Jessica West, and Hanzhang Xu investigate racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular health outcomes among adults in the United States.

Tyson Brown, a professor of sociology and associate professor in medicine, has been appointed director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University effective July 1, Provost Alec D. Gallimore announced. Brown succeeds the Cook Center’s founding director, William A. (“Sandy”) Darity Jr., the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and professor of African & African American studies and economics.