Dustin T. Duncan, ScD

Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Co-Director, Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit

Phone: 212-304-6591
Fax: (212) 305-6832
Email: dd3018@columbia.edu

Dustin T. Duncan, ScD (he/they) is a social and spatial epidemiologist, studying how neighborhood characteristics and mobility across geographic contexts influence population health and health disparities. Dr. Duncan's intersectional and health equity-based research focuses on Black gay, bisexual and other sexual minority men and transgender women of color. His research has a strong domestic focus--including in New York City, Chicago and the Deep South (e.g., New Orleans)--and his recent work spans the globe such as in West Africa, especially with Columbia's International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP). In addition to HIV epidemiology and sleep epidemiology, his current interests include characterizing the COVID-19 epidemic and the monkeypox global public health emergency locally, nationally and globally, especially among marginalized populations. Notably, his group completed the N2 COVID Study, where they surveyed 226 Black sexual minority men and Black transgender women in Chicago from April to July 2020 on various aspects of COVID-19. Methodologically, his research utilizes an ecologically-intensive and a geospatial lens to apply advanced geographic information systems, web-based and real-time geospatial technologies, and geospatial modeling techniques. Working in collaborations with scholars across the world, he has over 200 high-impact scientific articles, book chapters, and books (>100 first or senior-authored); his research has appeared in major media outlets including U.S. News & World Report, Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times and CNN. Dr. Duncan's work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, and the Aetna Foundation. He currently leads four NIH-funded R01 studies, an NIH-funded UG3 study and an NIH-funded administrative supplement study, as well as studies funded by other sources, and mentors K and other awards of junior scientists. He has received several early career and distinguished scientific contribution, mentoring and leadership awards including from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). In 2020, he received the Mentor of the Year Award from Columbia University Irving Medical Center's Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. Dr. Duncan has mentored numerous early-stage scientists, doctoral students, and post-docs who have gone on to attain positions at academic institutions and successfully complete for research funding, including NIH R01-level funding. He thus has a strong perspective on how to ensure junior researchers launch successful research careers. His mentoring and early career faculty career development and advancement work areas of focus include the role of positionality in mentoring relationships, leadership development, and wellness/burnout prevention, with particular emphasis on underrepresented faculty.

EDUCATION

Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
BA - 2005

Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
ScM - 2007
ScD - 1996