Durham Center of Innovation to ADAPT

Michela Fabricius, MD – (VAQS 2025-2027)

Michela Fabricius, MD is a general surgery resident at Duke University Medical Center. Originally from the greater Los Angeles area, she earned her MD at the University of Missouri before starting surgical residency in North Carolina at Duke. She is an emerging surgeon scientist dedicated to mitigating societal injustices through effective and rigorous scientific methods. Her research interest involves understanding & improving liver cancer diagnosis, screening, treatment and outcomes for veterans through mixed methods approaches. Upon completion of this two year fellowship, she will complete the remaining three clinical years of her surgical residency prior to fellowship. Her primary career goal is to become a surgeon scientist with a clinical practice in hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery and a research practice dedicated to addressing oncologic health disparities.

Katie Brooks, PhD DNP – (VAQS 2025-2027)

Katherine (Katie) Brooks is a nurse scientist and post-doctoral fellow with the VA Quality Scholars program. She earned her Adult-Gero Primary Care NP degree from Vanderbilt University and both her DNP and PhD from Duke University School of Nursing. Her clinical expertise is in geriatrics and her research interests focus on improving the care delivery and care outcomes of older adults with a focus on pressure injury risk identification and prevention. 

Diego Schaps, MD  – (VAQS 2024-2026)
(he/him)

Diego Schaps, MD, MPH is a general surgery resident at Duke University Medical Center. He has a keen interest in fleshing out the epidemiology of and improving healthcare outcomes for patients with ostomies at the VA, nationally, and globally. He is also interested in improving anorectal care. Dr. Schaps plans on becoming an academic colorectal surgeon upon the completion of his surgical training.

Katlin Harker, DPT  VAQS 2024-2026

Katlin Harker, DPT is a pelvic health physical therapist. She completed her Doctor of Physical Therapy at Duke University and prior to the VAQS fellowship enjoyed practicing in central NC with particular interest in the treatment of pelvic pain conditions. 

Dr. Harker’s research goals are to better understand the impacts of rurality, socioeconomic status, and health literacy on health care utilization and patient perceptions of shared decision-making within the VAHCS

Zoe Bridges-Curry, PhD – (OAA 2023-2025)

Dr. Bridges-Curry completed a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Louisville and her clinical internship at the John D. Dingell VA in Detroit. Before beginning graduate training in psychology, she worked as a public relations and strategic communications specialist in Washington, DC, with an emphasis on health, economic, and social policy. Dr. Bridges-Curry’s research is focused on data-driven and personalized approaches to mental health treatment for Veterans with psychiatric comorbidity.  She has a strong interest in quantitative methods, person-centered approaches, and expanding access to evidence-based care for all Veterans.

Joseph Neiman, MD – (OAA 2023-2025)
(he/him/his)

Dr. Neiman is an internal medicine and palliative care physician. He grew up in Reno, Nevada and completed medical school at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, an MPH at Johns Hopkins University, residency at Hackensack University Medical Center, and fellowship at Duke University. His research focuses on the intersection between palliative care and the ICU, using mixed methods to develop and study patient- and family-centered interventions to empower family caregivers and reduce post-ICU psychological trauma.

Imari Z. Smith, PhD, MPH – (OAA 2024-2026)
(she/her)

Dr. Smith is a social scientist specializing in the impact of social stressors on health outcomes and patient interactions with health professionals. She completed her PhD at Duke University in both Public Policy and Sociology. Prior to her doctoral training, Dr. Smith worked as a Health Equity Research Associate and earned her MPH from at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Smith’s research examines how concurrent systems of power—as they pertain to race, gender, and class, among others—shape individuals’ own health journeys as well as their abilities to effectively navigate healthcare systems.

Natalie Fullenkamp, PhD, MA – (OAA 2024-2026)
(she/her)

Dr. Fullenkamp is a medical sociologist with a PhD in Sociology and an MA in Communication. Her research has considered organizational factors that influence pain standards and measurement; methodological considerations for novel data sources — including popular means of disseminating patient experience data; and perceptions of vaccine hesitancy. She is interested in helping improve patient-provider communication and pain management, particularly among older Veterans.

Shewit Jaynes, PhD, MSPH, RN - (2025-2027)

Shewit Jaynes is a nurse scientist in the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) with a clinical background in medical-surgical and postpartum nursing. She earned her Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Health Policy and Management from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and completed her PhD at Duke University School of Nursing. Her dissertation research, supported by an F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), investigated the relationships between gendered racism, resilience, and high-risk pregnancy among Black women, using national longitudinal data. Dr. Jaynes leverages her lived experience as a Black woman, mother, clinical experience caring for postpartum individuals, and interdisciplinary training in nursing, public health, and policy to inform her passion and unique perspective on addressing maternal health inequities. Dr. Jaynes is dedicated to (1) critically examining social determinants of health and structural inequality and (2) leveraging a community-engaged approach to design interventions and inform policy solutions to address racialized maternal health inequities.