On January 1, Christopher Plowe began his tenure as director of the Duke Global Health institute (DGHI) and professor of medicine and global health.
Plowe, who was the founding director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, succeeds Michael Merson, who stepped down June 30 after leading the institute since it was launched in 2006. Randall Kramer, DGHI’s deputy director and the Juli Plant Grainger Professor of Global Environmental Health, served as interim director from July through December.
“Chris Plowe is a star in the global health field,” said Sally Kornbluth, Duke’s provost and Jo Rae Wright University Professor, when Plowe’s appointment was announced in September. “He is a visionary scholar and researcher who has already created a world-class institute from the ground up. Chris’s experience in building and growing collaborations across campus, and with partners around the world, will help Duke and DGHI realize our ambitions for the future.”
She added, “I am grateful to Mary Story and the search committee for leading such a thorough and thoughtful process, to Randy Kramer for his leadership of DGHI through this transition and, of course, to Mike Merson for making Duke a leader in global health over the past decade.”
Plowe was the Frank M. Calia MD Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1995. He led a clinical translational malaria research program, dividing his time between teaching and directing a research facility in Baltimore and doing field work in Mali, Malawi and Myanmar.