Mariu Carlo Duggan, MD, MPH

Mariu Duggan, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is also an investigator in the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Tennessee Valley Healthcare System in Nashville.

 

A graduate of Harvard University, Dr. Duggan earned her medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM). She completed an internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and a clinical geriatrics fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She subsequently completed an advanced geriatrics research fellowship at the GRECC in Nashville, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at VUSM, during which she trained under Dr. Wes Ely at the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship (CIBS) Center to explore cognitive impairment and quality of life among survivors of critical illness.  

 

Dr. Duggan's research interests span the recognition of dementia in the ICU, the impact of cognitive impairment after delirium, subtypes of delirium and their relation to mortality, and the overlap between delirium and catatonia. As Clinical Director of Geriatric Operations at Vanderbilt University Hospital, she developed and leads the Age-Friendly Team, which works to accelerate the adoption of the best-practice care for older adults through the 4Ms Framework.

 

As an educator and Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program, Dr. Duggan enjoys innovating at the fellow, resident, and student levels. In response to limited educational opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic among geriatric fellows, she co-founded Geriatric Fellows Learning Online And Together (Geri-a-FLOAT). Geri-a-FLOAT is an innovative model of online learning to support education, wellness, and networking among geriatric fellows. For Internal Medicine residents, she spearheaded the development of a teaching service on the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit and created a flipped-classroom, competency-based curriculum known as FACETS. Dr. Duggan also developed two courses at the medical school – Geriatric Medicine Acting Internship and the Integrated Science Course: Healthy Aging & Quality Dying.