DukeMed Alumni News

The first time Shree Bose saw a live beating human heart, it took her breath away.

She was on a surgery rotation, one of the clinical rotations that Duke medical students complete during their second year. Just a short while earlier, the patient had spoken with the medical team, expressing anxieties about the surgery. Now, with a few strokes of the surgeon’s scalpel, Bose could see the patient’s heart. It was a little mind-boggling.

In the 1950s, Kimberly Johnson’s maternal grandmother was diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer and ultimately lost her life to the disease. Since then, her family has always wondered whether the situation might have had a different outcome if her grandmother had had access to today’s health care.

“We talk about how things are different now, and if she’d lived today she might have lived longer and better, especially if she had good insurance and a good income,” says Johnson, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine.

Jeb Hallett has enjoyed a long and distinguished career at top medical centers around the country, where he has performed leading-edge vascular surgery, advanced research, built world-class vascular programs, and helped shape medical education for young physicians following in his footsteps.

James Mold is a revered family physician, geriatrician, researcher, and leader who has helped to reshape our thinking about health and health care.

After spending 6 months in Ghana, West Africa, Jim returned to North Carolina to practice in Hillsborough and teach Duke medical students and residents.  After 6 years in private practice, he was recruited to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) where he spent most of three decades.

Last November, 240 Duke University School of Medicine alumni, along with more than 260 family members, arrived in Durham for the annual Medical Alumni Weekend.  Attendees traveled from as far away as Costa Rica to reconnect with friends, marvel at the changes unfolding on Duke’s campus and in Durham, and dive headlong into an event-filled weekend celebrating their connection to the school and to each other. And, as part of their celebration, they gave. The reunion classes demonstrated tremendous generosity, giving more than $4 million to support Duke Medicine. 

A physician scientist in the field of genetics and hematology, David Ginsburg has contributed substantially to advancing the understanding, diagnosis, and care of inherited and acquired coagulation disorders. His contributions have improved the understanding of the molecular basis of inherited bleeding and thrombotic disorders, genetic modifiers of bleeding and thrombotic risk, and the structure and function of blood coagulation factors and the regulation of hemostatic balance.

Diane Havlir is a pioneering leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She has developed groundbreaking studies of early treatments, including highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to overcome HIV’s ability to mutate and become resistant to individual drugs. She is a leader in a research field that has transformed HIV from a fatal disease to one that can be managed as a chronic illness.

Allan Kirk is about as thoroughly steeped in Duke Blue as it is possible to be: the son of a Duke-trained biologist, he earned both his MD and PhD at Duke, did his residency in surgery at Duke (serving as chief resident), and eventually joined the faculty at Duke. He even married a Duke nurse, and his children were born at Duke. In all his roles at Duke, he has demonstrated the leadership, scientific and medical excellence, and vision that exemplify the institution’s traditions and goals.

William G. Kaelin, Jr., has been named a recipient of the 2016 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. The Lasker Awards are widely considered among the highest scientific honors and recognize the most outstanding and seminal contributions to biomedical science. Dr. Kaelin received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his MD from Duke University Medical School.