2016-2017 Luce Scholar

Centre for Ageing Research and Education, Duke-NUS Medical School National University of Singapore



For her Luce year in Singapore, Elizabeth Linton will support the work and programs of the Centre for Ageing Research and Education (CARE), a research center based in Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. CARE investigators and staff conduct multidisciplinary research in ageing from a comprehensive gerontological perspective, combining biological, social, medical, and environmental perspectives. CARE also spearheads educational programs to build competencies on ageing amongst researchers, policy and program professionals.

Elizabeth studied advanced epidemiology at Columbia University and graduated in May with a master’s degree in Public Health. She has previously supported two research studies at Mount Sinai Hospital as a research coordinator, investigating health outcomes for geriatric patients and predictors of inpatient mortality among people with sickle cell disease. Her interest in public health began in high school, when she organized a health activism project “Get Rich, Health is Wealth” in the streets of New York City, her hometown. This experience inspired her to study epidemiology to learn how to truly listen to people’s health narratives and translate such stories into research that could support population change.

As an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Elizabeth studied medicine, health and society (MHS). She conducted qualitative research and built sickle cell health maintenance tools for a hospital medical record system as a research assistant in the Department of Biomedical Informatics. Her work was presented at the 2014 American Medical Informatics Association Annual Conference. As a member of the MHS student advisory committee, she created an internship/job database to enhance student access to non-traditional career opportunities. During a semester abroad in South Africa, she volunteered at the YMCA of Cape Town and helped design and lead art, science, and life skills afterschool lessons for disadvantaged elementary and middle school youth. A Posse Scholar, Elizabeth is devoted in her free time to mentoring first-generation college hopefuls through the college application process and volunteering at her church’s youth outreach.