Geoffrey Ginsburg, MD, PhD, has been named director of MEDx (Medicine and Engineering at Duke), it was announced today by Nancy C. Andrews, MD, PhD, Dean, School of Medicine; Tom Katsouleas, PhD, Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering; and George Truskey, PhD, Incoming interim Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering. Dr. Ginsburg will serve as director for an initial three-year term.
MEDx is a new entity at Duke created to enhance existing ties and foster new interdisciplinary collaborations between the School of Medicine (SoM) and Pratt School of Engineering (Pratt), as the first part of a forthcoming Provost initiative to create opportunities at the intersections of academic units. The goal is to better achieve the two schools’ many shared goals: 1) developing new therapies, diagnostics and devices; 2) accelerating basic science and its translation into clinical practice; 3) creating innovative educational opportunities for students; and 4) improving the quality and effectiveness of patient care.
MEDx will foster the exchange of ideas and will create research opportunities between physicians, engineers, computer scientists, researchers and innovators. It will promote the training of the next generation of researchers and clinicians to work symbiotically on new solutions to complex clinical problems.
A professor of medicine, pathology, and biomedical engineering and director of the Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine at Duke, Dr. Ginsburg has worked extensively with faculty across both schools, as well as with interdisciplinary University teams including the Information Initiative at Duke, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and Duke Global Health Institute. His own research program provides an excellent model for the kinds of partnerships we hope will arise from MEDx. Dr. Ginsburg also brings valuable perspectives on the research funding landscape through his leadership on committees of the Institute of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, among others. We anticipate that his guidance will significantly build upon the approximately $38 million in collaborative research awards our schools currently receive each year as well as develop strategic commercialization opportunities.
This new partnership will be funded initially through joint contributions from the Schools of Medicine and Engineering and the Office of the Provost.