Epidemiology & Population Health

Research interests include: prevention of infectious diseases in the community setting; life course, infection, and chronic disease; genomics, aging, and immunity.

REC Scholar Project: Improving Health and Well-being of People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and their Family Caregivers in Eastern North Carolina

Clinical: Geriatric Medicine, Obesity, Health Promotion, Frailty Research: Obesity and Physical Function in Older Adults; Using technology (telemedicine, remote monitoring) to enhance health in older adults

My work specifically examines how race, culture and racism stress influence how the world responds to Black Americans and how this influences health and social disparities. I develop culturally cognizant measures, specifically in the areas of racial/ethnic socialization, racial cohesion and dissonance and same-race violence. As an interdisciplinary researcher, I examine the racial and societal contexts that influence health, coping and well-being in schools, communities and within families.

My primary research interests are in the use of novel sources of data, including the EHR, to conduct chronic disease research at the intersection of informatics, biostatistics, and epidemiology. My ongoing work aims to integrate informatics, epidemiology, and biostatistics to reduce the burden of chronic disease.

1) How do childhood experiences shape aging and the course of health inequalities across the life span? (2) How do genetic differences between people shape the way they respond to their environments? (3) What are the best ways to assess and measure personality differences between people?

REC Scholar Project: Assessing the Interplay of the Built Environment with Midlife Risk for Dementia

Dr. Walsh is Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Pathology, Director of the Division of Neuro-epidemiology, and a Senior Fellow in the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. He leads Duke’s Neuro-epidemiology Lab, which integrates bench science with statistical methods to study the neurobiology of glial senescence and gliomagenesis. He is also the Co-Lead for the ADRC Research Education Component (REC) Core.