Bruce Duncan

Clinician, Researcher, Epidemiologist, and Primary Care ‘Rock Star’ in Brazil. Bruce Duncan is a physician and epidemiologist, born and trained in the U.S. Being of a contrarian mindset, he became the counterflux – while the life path of thousands of scientists was to immigrate to North America or Europe, his, in 1983, was to move to Brazil. He has always believed that if you are interested in global health, why not work close to where the challenges to health arise? In so doing, together with his wife and professional partner, Maria Inês Schmidt, Bruce has championed clinical epidemiology, playing a pivotal role in establishing a solid foundation for evidence-based medical practice in his adopted country. Together, Maria Inês and Bruce co-founded a master´s and doctoral program in Epidemiology and mentored many leaders of the next generation of Brazilian investigators, produced five editions of what has been for 30 years Brazil´s leading primary care textbook, and influenced patient care and policy decisions through their publications on diabetes and related non-communicable diseases.