Brian Sullivan

Brian Sullivan, MD, MHS is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Duke University School of Medicine and a Physician Scientist at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His research focuses on optimizing colorectal cancer prevention through genomic risk stratification and clinical decision support systems for personalized screening strategies.

Dr. Sullivan's primary research interest is developing novel approaches for colorectal cancer risk assessment during screening and surveillance. His work investigates how genomic data and clinical factors can improve risk stratification to target intensive interventions to high-risk individuals while reducing unnecessary procedures for lower-risk populations. Current projects include clinical decision support tool implementation, stool-based test validation, and polygenic risk score development within Veterans Health Administration cohorts.

Analysis of his 34 publications (2015-2025) reveals consistent focus on colorectal cancer screening optimization, with recent work emphasizing real-world evidence generation, patient safety in endoscopy, and genomic risk prediction. Over 70% of his publications involve Veterans Affairs collaborations, highlighting the VA's central role in his research program.

Dr. Sullivan actively collaborates with multidisciplinary teams across Duke University Medical Center and the Durham VA, including gastroenterologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, and health services researchers. His work contributes to national guidelines for colorectal cancer surveillance through participation in large cooperative studies like the CONFIRM trial.