Injury characteristics and their association with clinical complications among emergency care patients in Tanzania.

Dr. Bettger’s research is dedicated to establishing real world evidence aimed to improve health care quality and policies that reduce the burden of disease and disability. As a health services researcher and implementation scientist, her research extends from observational studies to randomized and pragmatic trials. She was the Founding Director of Duke Roybal Center for Translational Research in the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging and the Founding Director of Undergraduate Initiatives for the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. She has examined implementation of several integrated care models to improve the transition home from the hospital (VERITAS with virtual exercise therapy after knee replacement, COMPASS for stroke, RECOVER for stroke in rural China, and coordinated care for trauma patients in Tanzania). She also studies implementation of community-based models of care that can prevent functional decline. These include the CTSA-funded IMPAC RCT of integrating physical therapists into primary care as first line providers to address musculoskeletal pain, the VA-funded Gerofit program of structured and progressive in-person and virtual group exercise for older Veterans, MRC-funded SINEMA RCT of a village-based model supporting stroke recovery in China, and a NIDCD study comparing three primary care protocols for older adult hearing healthcare.

In addition to the evidence translation studies in China (RECOVER and SINEMA) and Tanzania, she has partnered with experts in Singapore on stroke systems research, and worked on large cluster randomized trials to improve evidence-based care in Brazil, Peru, Argentina (BRIDGE-Stroke) and China (CNSR and Golden Bridge). To address health locally, she was the faculty sponsor to launch Exercise is Medicine at Duke and Help Desk, a student volunteer community resource navigator model addressing social determinants of health.

Dr. Bettger received her BA from the University of Western Ontario, Canada and her MS from the University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse where she studied community reintegration for stroke and brain-injured patients transitioning from hospital to home. Her doctoral training in Rehabilitation Sciences, completed at Boston University, concluded with an investigation of patterns of functional recovery and factors affecting outcomes in patients transitioning home following acute rehabilitation. While working on her doctorate, she also worked in state government as the director of the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry. Dr. Bettger completed post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania with a NIH NRSA research fellowship in neurorehabilitation, a research fellowship at the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, and a Switzer Fellowship funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to study the role of the environment on functional outcomes. She completed additional research training at Duke as a mentored scholar in comparative effectiveness research funded by AHRQ. As of July 2022, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor for Duke's Department of Orthopaedics and has transitioned out of her role as Co-Director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Institute (CTSA) Pilots Accelerator Core working with NCCU. She is affiliate faculty with Duke's Science and Society, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), is a Senior Fellow of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association. 

Catherine Staton MD MSc

Dr. Staton is a Professor in Emergency Medicine (EM), Neurosurgery & Global Health with tenure at Duke University. She is the Director of the GEMINI (Global EM Innovation & Implementation) Research Center and the EM Vice Chair of Research Strategy & Faculty Development. Her research integrates innovative implementation methods into health systems globally to improve access to acute care. In 2012, with an injury registry at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Tanzania Dr. Staton demonstrated 30% of injury patients had at risk alcohol use, providing preliminary data for a K01/Career Development Award. Her K01 award adapted a brief alcohol intervention to the KCMC ED and Swahili. This intervention has been proven to reduce 26 binge drinking events per year compared to usual care, and the team is now planning for regional implementation. Dr. Staton and her mentor and collaborator Dr. Mmbaga are co-PD of the “The TReCK Program: Trauma Research Capacity Building in Kilimanjaro” to train 12 masters and doctoral learners to conduct innovative implementation and data science projects to improve care for injury patients. Currently, Dr. Staton and GEMINI partners with over a dozen faculty from over 6 low- and middle-income countries to conduct research, has mentored over 150 learners from undergraduate to post-doctoral levels from high, middle and low- income settings and has over 160 manuscripts.