Christiana Care Health System is one of the largest health care providers in the mid-Atlantic, serving all of Delaware and parts of PA, MD and NJ.

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‘Top Doc’, Philadelphia Magazine

Dean’s Award for Service to Medicine & Community, University of Vermont

Editor of the Year, BioMedCentral

EM/FM Teacher of the Year Award, ChristianaCare

Alumnus of the Year Award, Wilmington Friends School

Alumnus of the Year Award and Resident Teacher of the Year Award, University of Vermont

AAFP/Pfizer Teaching Development Award

Delaware Public Health Association :  Board Chair

Sidney Kimmel Medical College/Thomas Jefferson University, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine : Professor of Family & Community Medicine

PCORI : Scientific Merit Reviewer

Upstream USA : Clinician Leadership Council

Asylum Network, Physicians for Human Rights : Member

Delaware Journal of Public Health : Editor In-Chief

Teaching Global Health at an Academic Health Center in Delaware:: The evolution of a Global Health curriculum and Global Health Residency Tracks at Christiana Care Health System

Strategies to Engage Community Partners in Research used by Delaware-CTR ACCEL

Beyond Medical "Missions" to Impact-Driven Short-Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGHs): Ethical Principles to Optimize Community Benefit and Learner Experience

Advancing maternal survival in the global context: are our strategies working?

Global health education in U.S. Medical schools

Global Health Education: International Collaboration at ICDDR,B

Control of Communicable Diseases: Clinical Practice (Control of Communicable Diseases Manual)

Megacities &amp; Global Health

Readings in Global Health

The End of Polio? : Behind the Scenes of the Campaign to Vaccinate Every Child on the Planet

Research Focus

Dr. Omar Khan is the enterprise chief scientific officer and vice president of research administration and scientific affairs for ChristianaCare. In this role, Khan will oversee research administration across the enterprise, including the Office of Sponsored Programs, Office of Research Finance, Office of Research Coordination, the Institutional Review Board and related areas.

Global Health

Medical Education

Public Health

Medical Writing‎

Healthcare Leadership

Downloadable Photos of Omar Khan

ChristianaCare receives $2.4 million grant to bolster healthcare across the state

Housing, Place, and Health Outcomes

Global Health is Local Health: A Physician at the Frontlines

Can once at-risk medical school pipeline help boost primary care in Delaware?

Interview With Dr. Omar Khan, Noted Global Health Specialist

In their own words Vt. writer helps medical workers tell their stories

Local Duo Creates 'Writers Without Borders'

"Health Policy in the Time of COVID-19:  Lessons from Global Health"

"The COVID-19 Pandemic"

IDeA Program Grant

nurse-scientist-susan-smith-birkhoff-makes-two-research-firsts-in-delaware

Innovative researcher named to leadership role in DE-INBRE and recognized for mentoring

Enterprise Chief Scientific Officer

Program Director of Technology Research & Education

Chief Clinical Officer

Susan Smith Birkhoff, Ph.D., RN, is making nursing history in the First State through the Delaware IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). She is the first nurse scientist to be named an INBRE site principal investigator and she is the first nurse to receive the Seema S. Sonnad Mentor of the Year Award from INBRE’s Junior Investigator Network.

INBRE is a collaborative network of Delaware academic, health care and research institutions, composed of ChristianaCare, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical Community College Nemours Children’s Health and University of Delaware.

First nurse scientist to lead INBRE site  As the INBRE site principal investigator at ChristianaCare, Smith Birkhoff will expand on the research network’s success at a large academic health center. In collaboration with the INBRE partners and the program manager, Kellie Patterson, BSN, RN, CCRP, she will leverage centers of excellence across ChristianaCare to host an exceptional student program, increase the health system's contributions to the pilot program pool and grow the visibility of INBRE across the enterprise.

“Susan brings a terrific combination of skills to this role,” said Omar Khan, M.D., MHS, FAAFP, chief scientific officer for ChristianaCare and institutional representative on the INBRE steering committee.

“She is a mentor, scientist and teacher, and her experience with INBRE and the state’s other premier research programs will ensure that we deliver the highest value for the Delaware community.”

Smith Birkhoff leads and supports interprofessional research education, systemwide technology evaluation, and grantsmanship. She spearheads a diverse research program, encompassing areas such as robotics in health care, virtual reality in medicine and burnout in the nursing workforce.

As program director of Technology Research & Education at ChristianaCare, she collaborates across the health system’s academic research enterprise to achieve both clinician- and patient-oriented research outcomes.

“Susan is a wonderful colleague and she is a true researcher-educator,” said Neil Jasani, M.D., MBA, FACEP, chief academic officer for ChristianaCare. “She is a great fit for the work of Delaware INBRE as we advance ChristianaCare’s contribution to this essential research network.”

She co-leads an innovative program to study the one of the first deployments of increasingly autonomous robots in a U.S. health care setting and directs the first Nursing Research Fellowship in Robotics and Innovation, housed at ChristianaCare.

First nurse named Mentor of the Year  Smith Birkhoff received the 2025 Seema S. Sonnad Mentor of the Year Award from INBRE’s Junior Investigator Network, nominated for her exceptional mentorship by ChristianaCare colleagues whom she mentored. Her nominators were: Kaci Rainey, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, an evidence-based practice specialist at ChristianaCare, and Briana Abernathy, BSN, RN, CEN, a nurse in utilization management at ChristianaCare and an inaugral nurse fellow in the Nursing Research Fellowship in Robotics and Innovation.

“They say that if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. We are profoundly grateful that Dr. Smith Birkhoff selflessly provided us with a seat at the table and an overflowing feast of knowledge,” said Abernathy in presenting the award.

“This knowledge has quenched our thirst for change and fueled our hunger for research and innovation, setting the stage for the rest of our careers.”


Nurse Scientist Susan Smith Birkhoff Makes Two Research ‘Firsts’ in Delaware

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