“Like most universities, student health at Duke is housed within student affairs. While that structure is essential to our mission of directly contributing to our students’ wellbeing and academic success, being a medical practice on the non-medical side of the university can be a challenge at times,” says John Vaughn, M.D., associate professor of community and family medicine, director and division chief of student health. “That’s why our affiliation with CFM is so valuable. Being able to tap into the clinical and administrative expertise of the department is only going to improve the care we provide to our students. I’m very excited about it.”
In addition to benefitting students directly and making administrative tasks easier, the establishment of student health as a division in CFM will provide new opportunities for education, training and research.
"As the academic home for student health faculty, our Division of Student Health will increase the potential for clinical collaborations, new programs and initiatives, scholarly support, and improved integration within the department," says Anthony Viera, M.D., MPH, professor and chair of the department.
Going forward, Vaughn hopes to increase faculty involvement with population health initiatives in the Division of Community Health and with the Family Medicine Residency Program.
“Right now, we don’t have family medicine residents rotating through, but maybe now we can because we are affiliated with the department,” says Vaughn, who worked in both Student Health Services and the Department of Family Medicine at The Ohio State University before coming to Duke in 2013.
The relationship between CFM and student health dates back to the department’s establishment in 1966. The Duke Student Health Service originated in the department and became a full division in the mid-1980s, so the renewed collaboration with the department feels like a coming home of sorts, Vaughn says.
“It’s plugging us back into a network of colleagues that we didn’t have before,” Vaughn says. “It’s a little cliché, but I’m excited to come back home. We [the physicians in student health] are all family doctors … so I’m very excited to be back with a group that trained the way we trained and shares the same values.”
Student health is housed in the Duke Student Wellness Center, which opened in 2017. The 72,000-square-foot facility is located on Towerview Drive in the heart of Duke’s West Campus.
Courtney Decker is a communications intern for the Department of Community and Family Medicine. She is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in media and journalism.