Immersive Nursing Postdoc Partners with Rural Communities
Stephanie Hart reflects on her post-doctoral fellowship at Duke School of Nursing, where she received immersive training in community-engaged rural health research.
Hands-On Experience in Community-Engaged Research
As a post-doctoral fellow at Duke University School of Nursing, Stephanie Hart, PhD, AGNP-C, immersed herself in community-engaged nursing research, working closely with Granville Vance Public Health to address the opioid crisis and improve communicable disease reporting in rural areas.
Now an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Hart came to Duke as a 2023-2025 National Clinician Scholar, housed under Duke’s Clinical & Translational Science Institute. Duke is one of just six academic health care research institutions that partner with the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP), whose mission is to “immerse clinician scholars in a rigorous program of research, policy, and leadership training that equips them to partner with communities and health systems, engage and lead diverse teams to impact health policy, and generate and use evidence that will inform new strategies and models of care that improve health and health care for all.”
Taking advantage of the School of Nursing’s standing partnership with Granville Vance Public Health’s Rural Academic Health Department Model, Dr. Hart says that her time at Duke “offered a really unique opportunity” as well as “invaluable hands-on experience, specifically in developing and sustaining rural health partnerships for community-engaged research.”
“I've spent most of my career as a public health nurse and a nurse practitioner in rural underserved communities across eastern North Carolina, so I already understood many of the needs and priorities of rural populations from a clinical and public health perspective,” said Dr. Hart. “But what this fellowship really gave me was the opportunity to bridge that practice experience with rigorous yet responsive community-engaged research.”
Alongside her NCSP physician colleague Ryan Kane, MD, MPH, Dr. Hart attended local meetings and forums to hear from community leaders and concerned citizens, and both took coursework on how to co-design meaningful, community-engaged research. Ultimately, their contributions included establishing two communities of practice to share best practices and strategies for using opioid settlement funds, as well as working to develop standardized reporting protocols to improve disease surveillance and response in central North Carolina.
Sustained Commitment to Co-Designed Health Interventions
Dr. Hart said that her immersive experience carried beyond the bounds of her fellowship, informing her work around hypertension and stroke.
“I'm a co-investigator of a PCORI-funded pragmatic clinical trial, where we're evaluating a team-based care model to improve blood pressure control for patients in rural communities across North Carolina,” said Dr. Hart. "Drawing on lessons from my fellowship, I’ve seen how partnering with communities to co-design interventions allows us to develop approaches that are more responsive, sustainable, and aligned with the needs and priorities identified by community members themselves.”
Dr. Hart also partnered with the Duke Community Engaged Research Initiative to conduct a participatory community consultation session with rural stroke survivors, and she currently serves on the North Carolina Stroke Advisory Council.
“Through my post-doctoral fellowship, I gained not just new skills, but a transformed perspective on how to approach this work in partnership with communities,” said Dr. Hart.
Mentorship and Collaboration with Duke School of Nursing Faculty
While at Duke, Dr. Hart worked most closely with Associate Professor Devon Noonan, PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, CARN, FAAN, who also serves as Associate Dean of Community Engaged Science at the School and as Director of Rural Health Equity for the Center for Nursing Research.
Dr. Noonan is a project lead for the Interdisciplinary Hub for Rural Health Equity, one of three faculty-led projects to receive a Multiyear Interdisciplinary Hub grant from Duke University's Office of the Provost.
"Dr. Noonan is a champion for rural academic health department models and workforce training, not just for clinicians but also for rural nurse scientists,” said Dr. Hart.
Dr. Hart also received mentorship from Lisa Macon Harrison, MPH, a Consulting Associate with the School of Nursing, Core Faculty for the Duke National Clinical Scholars Program, and Health Director for Granville Vance Public Health.
“They co-mentored me through this immersive experience, which I found to be incredibly valuable and something that I carry with me now in my current role,” said Dr. Hart.
At Dr. Noonan’s invitation, Dr. Hart participated in a Rural Health Panel for a 2025 Spring Research Symposium held at the School of Nursing, speaking about her post-doctoral experience and the importance of immersive training for doctoral students and post-docs alike.
“I continue to work collaboratively with Dr. Noonan to strengthen the pipeline for training rural health nurse researchers,” said Dr. Hart. "More recently, I’ve been able to engage her in my own projects aimed at building capacity for patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research in rural Southern Virginia.”
Dr. Noonan praised Dr. Hart’s meaningful contributions at Granville Vance Public Health and her “ability to quickly adapt and build trust” with local stakeholders.
“Dr. Hart’s contributions have strengthened our collective capacity to address complex public health challenges,” Dr. Noonan added. “She embodies the values and expertise that drive our work forward.”
See our recent Q&A with Dr. Devon Noonan for further information on the Interdisciplinary Hub for Rural Health Equity and how the School of Nursing is tackling critical health disparities in rural North Carolina.