Alison M. Duncan, MD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Alison Duncan is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at BUSM and a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center, where she is also the Director of Psychiatric Emergency Services. She has both clinical and research expertise in emergency psychiatry, pediatric consult-liaison psychiatry, family communication, suicide, substance use disorders, severe mental illness, ADHD and quality improvement. Dr. Duncan's research currently focuses on:

Improving parent-adolescent communication for parents of adolescents with ADHD using Motivational Interviewing
Exploring the feasibility of implicit association testing for suicidality in the emergency department
Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with serious mental illness
Emergency psychiatric services utilization


Dr. Duncan's research is currently supported by multiple grants, including the AACAP Pilot Research Award for Attention Disorders, supported by AACAP’s Elaine Schlosser Lewis Fund and the Gennaro Acampora Junior Investigator Pilot Award. Dr. Duncan received her Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Theater and Economics from The Hartt School and The University of Hartford in 1998 and her Medical Degree from The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in 2013. She completed her General Psychiatry Residency at The University of New Mexico in 2016 and her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Brown University/Bradley Hospital in 2018, during which time she was also awarded the NIDA-AACAP Resident Training Award in Substance Use Disorders. She is Board Certified in both Adult Psychiatry and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Duncan sings with Coro Allegro, Boston's LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus. She is often accompanied in the hospital by her dog, Cocoa, whose therapeutic skills are in high demand.

Publications

  • Published 1/30/2026

    Mahajan A, Hruska V, Yu J, Ashraf R, Zhang F, Douglas S, Prashad M, Duncan AM, Darlington G, Buchholz AC, Haines J, Ma DWL. Family Stress Is Inversely Associated With Sugar Intake in Preschool-Aged Girls. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2026 Jan 30. PMID: 41618937.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/2/2026

    Beaugard CA, Khan S, Oblath R, Sadatis C, Duncan A, Brown HE, Henderson DC, Yule AM. Co-Occurring Substance Use and Psychiatric Disorders in Psychiatric Emergency Services: Suicidality, Substance Use, and Treatment Utilization. J Dual Diagn. 2026; 22(1):26-36. PMID: 41481572.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/16/2025

    Black-Ingersoll F, Willis MD, White JS, Grady ST, Vrkljan KA, Duncan A, Burrows K, Oblath R, Nori-Sarma A. Climate resilience adaptation and psychiatric emergency services utilization during extreme heat in Boston, MA: a difference-in-differences analysis. Environ Int. 2026 Jan; 207:110007. PMID: 41418637.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/25/2025

    Oblath R, Beaugard CA, Herrera CN, Xu C, Syed S, Sadatis C, Duncan A, Gann G, Plange E, Ferguson T, Khan S, Katkhuda F, Henderson DC, Savage J, Morabito MS. Bridging crisis and care: exploring the role of behavioral health professionals in a police co-response model. Health Justice. 2025 Nov 25; 13(1):72. PMID: 41288942.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/1/2025

    Rudolph KA, Beaugard CA, Xu C, Syed S, Duncan A, Brown HE, Henderson DC, Oblath R. Psychiatric Emergency Service Use Trends: Adults Experiencing Homelessness in Massachusetts from 2005-2020. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2025; 36(1):240-256. PMID: 39957648.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 19 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

  • Geisinger Medical Center School of Nursing, MD
  • University of Hartford, BA
  • University of Hartford, BFA

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