Overview
Dr. Dustin T. Duncan is an internationally recognized academic leader and equity strategist. He creates and leads initiatives to rearchitect research systems, faculty development, and university design, operationalizing justice-centered higher education scholarship within academic institutions. His work reshapes organizational structure, power distribution, and production infrastructure for greater equity-centered outcomes. He is widely regarded as a transformative leader at the intersection of public health, equity, and higher education strategy.
His frameworks include the Health Equity Research Production Model, a redesign of research and governance infrastructures and incentive systems to enable equitable knowledge production at scale; The Step-Up Mentorship Model, which combines intentional sponsorship, structured skill-building, and progressive leadership opportunities to accelerate the success and visibility of early-career scholars, particularly those from historically underrepresented backgrounds; and writing accountability strategies, currently being instituted throughout Columbia University in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement.
Author of several books and more than 300 other publications, Dr. Duncan is Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University, a social epidemiologist with a specialization in spatial, trauma-informed, and mobility-based approaches to health equity. He is the founder of the Dustin Duncan Research Foundation, which provides philanthropic support to advance health equity research, leadership development, and community partnerships. Fluent in Swahili, Dr. Duncan also advances purpose-driven research and global health partnerships and equity across East Africa.
A National Institutes of Health fellow at Morehouse College in his early 20s, Dr. Duncan entered Harvard University at age 21, completed postdoctoral training at Harvard and the University of Oxford, was appointed professor at New York University before the age of 30, and earned tenure at Columbia before 40. He was promoted to the rank of Full Professor at age 40, becoming the first Black male tenured full professor in his department. He is currently engaged in legal systems training to further deepen his understanding of governance and institutional accountability.
Dr. Duncan’s long-term vision is for universities to be globally connected, structurally sound, and designed to cultivate both excellence and belonging at scale.
Academic Appointments
- Professor of Epidemiology
Administrative Titles
- Co-Director of the Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit
- Associate Dean for Health Equity
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- ScD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- ScM, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- BA, Morehouse College
Research
Research Interests
- Biostatistical Methods
- Community Health
- Environmental Health
- Global Health
- HIV/AIDS
- Infectious Diseases
- LGBT health
- Urban Health
Selected Publications
Duncan DT, Kawachi I, editors. Neighborhoods and Health, 2nd Edition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2018.
Duncan DT, Kawachi I, Redline S, editors. The Social Epidemiology of Sleep. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2019.
Chaix B, Duncan D, Vallee J, Vernez-Moudon A, Benmarhnia T, Kestens Y. The "residential" effect fallacy in neighborhood and health studies: formal definition, empirical identification, and correction. Epidemiology. 2017 Nov;28(6):789-797.
Duncan DT, Kawachi I, Subramanian SV, Aldstadt J, Melly SJ, Williams DR. Examination of How Neighborhood Definition Influences Measurements of Youths Access to Tobacco Retailers: A Methodological Note on Spatial Misclassification. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2014 Feb 1; 179(3): 373-381.
Duncan DT, Kapadia F, Halkitis PN. Examination of Spatial Polygamy among Young Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in New York City: The P18 Cohort Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014 Aug 28; 11(9): 8962-8983.
Duncan DT, Regan SD, Park SH, Goedel WC, Kim B, Barton S, Halkitis PN, Chaix B. Spatial Mobility Among Young Men who have Sex with Men across High HIV Prevalence Neighborhoods in New York City: The P18 Neighborhood Study. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology. 2020 Nov; 35: 100356.
Duncan DT, Hickson DA, Goedel WC, Callander D, Brooks B, Chen Y-T, Hanson H, Eavou R, Khanna AS, Chaix B, Regan SD, Wheeler DP, Mayer KH, Safren SA, Melvin SC, Draper C, Macgee-Jackson V, Brewer R, Schneider JA, on behalf of the Neighborhoods and Networks Cohort Study Team. The Social Context of HIV Prevention and Care Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in Three U.S. Cities: The Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) Cohort Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019 May 30;16(11).
Duncan DT, Park SH, Goedel WC, Kreski N, Morganstein JG, Hambrick HR, Jean-Louis G, Chaix B. Perceived Neighborhood Safety is Associated with Poor Sleep Health Among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Paris, France. Journal of Urban Health. Jun 2017; 94(3):399-407.
Kim B, Rundle AG, Singham Goodwin AT, Morrison CN, Branas CC, El-Sadr W, Duncan DT. COVID-19 Testing, Case, and Death Rates and Spatial Socio-Demographics in New York City: An Ecological Analysis as of June 2020. Health and Place. 2021 Mar; 68: 102539.
Duncan DT, Kawachi I, Kum S, Aldstadt J, Piras G, Matthews SA, Arbia G, Castro MC, White K, Williams DR. A spatially explicit approach to the study of socio-demographic inequality in the spatial distribution of trees across Boston neighborhoods. Spatial Demography. 2014; 2(1): 1-29.