Playing with the Boys

Name: Carrie Purbeck TrunzoPosition: Improvement Advisor, Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesYears at Duke: 4

What I do at Duke is: I work for the Data and Evaluation Program at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress to improve mental health care for children who have experienced trauma.  We are developing and implementing clinical content and an electronic system to facilitate the use of regular assessment an measurement at sites throughout the country. The project will help with case conceptualization and treatment planning while monitoring treatment outcomes.

If I had $5 million, I would: I think I’d be kind of paralyzed by that. I’d want to give some money to PORCH, which is a backpack buddies program in Durham. I’d use the rest to support a coastal-living lifestyle.

My first ever job was: Quality improvement at a green bean factory in my first summer during college in 1994. We would take samples of beans every 15 minutes and identify which kinds would go to the right production line. It was one summer, but I definitely don’t buy generic after that.

My dream job is: I’d like to be a dance choreographer. I sing and dance all the time, so I think it’d be fun spending time doing something like that.

If someone wanted to start a conversation with me they should ask me about: It’d be the other way around. I’d want them to tell me something fun they just learned or something interesting in the room they noticed. Not focused on me, but something they could bring to a conversation. Or a challenge. Something silly, like being at a party and betting to fit 10 meatballs into their mouth before wanting a drink.

The best advice I ever received was: It was from my grandmother. She said that things are just things and can be replaced, but you can’t replace people’s feelings easily, so be careful how you treat people.

What I love about Duke is: The scope and breadth of work that’s done here. It can be about any topic you can imagine – someone is studying it or working on it or trying to advance the field.

When I’m not at work, I like to: I have to be outside, whether it’s gardening, building something, or stand-up paddleboarding. I started paddleboarding one year when I was at the beach watching someone and I thought, ‘I can do that.’ My family goes to Cape Cod every year, where I can paddleboard. I really like gardening because it gives me a sense of accomplishment. It’s mainly roses and other flowers.

Something most people don’t know about me is: I was the first female captain of a boy’s sports team at our high school. I was captain of the golf team my junior and senior years. I don’t think it was just skill, but a sense of leadership, too. I remember one time we were playing another school and everyone was standing around the practice area, but there was a buzz around the other team. The match hadn’t started so I went up and asked why we weren’t playing and someone said ‘I can’t play with a girl,” and another said they wouldn’t play against me. Ultimately they paired a higher seeded player against me and I did not successfully win the match, but it was an important experience.