Dr. Duncan is the Principal Investigator at Wake Forest University Health Sciences.
Pamela Duncan is a nationally and internationally renowned expert in health policy, outcomes research and clinical epidemiology. Her expertise is in post-acute management of the elderly and individuals with stroke and falls management and prevention. She is Professor of Neurology and Senior Policy Advisor for Transitional Outcomes for Wake Forest Baptist Health. Her secondary appointments are in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Division of Public Health Sciences, and the Translational Sciences Institute.
Dr. Duncan’s has led or co-led multiple studies related to falls in the elderly and stroke survivors, she has developed measures of balance and stroke outcomes, analyzed the physical determinants for falls in the elderly, evaluated the benefits of strength training to reduce falls, and developed international trials to evaluate home based exercise for those who suffered an injurious fall.
She is an investigator for the PCORI Falls Prevention Grant (STRIDE). Her role in the STRIDE project is to support implementation of best practices for physical interventions to reduce falls as well as collaborate with home health agencies to implement evidence based falls prevention programs in collaboration with primary care.
She is the principal investigator of a 2015 PCORI funded large pragmatic trial to implement and evaluate an evidenced-based COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) model. This model of care combines CMS transitional care services provided by advanced practice providers (APP) and early supported discharge services coordinated by the APPs to develop with patients and families actionable care plans. Care plans will be individualized to manage blood pressure and diabetes, manage medications, increase physical activity, reduce falls risk, optimize functional recovery and optimize access to primary care and community based services. The cluster randomized trial includes over 40 North Carolina Hospitals and over 6000 patients.