DukeMed Alumni News

Dean Klotman narrates a video of highlights from the past year and offers her thanks for the commitment of faculty, staff and students to fulfilling the missions of excellence in patient care, research and discovery, education and community service.

An interview with Ashley Choi on what it was like to be a medical student during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An interview with MS4 Drake Edwards

An interview with MS4 Brian Ketterman

Veteran Duke scientist and executive R. Sanders “Sandy” Williams has been named interim Vice President for Research and Innovation at Duke.

Duke medical and health professions students are playing a prominent role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to the Duke Health community. 

More than 100 students from the School of Medicine have volunteered to assist with the administration of the vaccines at Duke vaccination sites. As of January 13, 2021, more than 18,000 vaccinations have been administered to Duke Health employees. Last week, Duke began vaccinating community members over the age of 75. 

For most medical students, getting the opportunity to don a white coat is a major milestone, one that fills them with excitement to be that much closer to becoming a doctor.

Kirsten Simmons had that same excitement initially too. But as time passed, Simmons, now in her fourth year of medical school at Duke, says her white coat gradually gained new meaning. It now feels heavy and represents a burden she wishes she didn’t have to bear.

When reports early last winter indicated that a mysterious new infectious disease had broken out of its point of origin in Wuhan, China, Charles Lucore, MD’83, P’17, MBA, began to prepare for its possible arrival in New York. Lucore was one year into his new position as president of St. Francis Hospital, a highly rated hospital and cardiac care center on Long Island. Because New York is a hub of international travel, he anticipated the novel coronavirus would eventually show up.

Before Claire Aldridge, PhD’96, and her husband, Matt Burnside, took their daughter on a long-planned spring break trip to New York City, she checked travel guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she is associate vice president of commercialization and business development. The focus at the time was on surface transmission of the novel coronavirus: avoid touching doorknobs, wash your hands frequently, and don’t touch your face.

A Long Struggle

Eric Dziuban, MD’07, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s country director for the southwest African nation of Namibia, was enjoying a weekend at the coast with his family when the call came. A Romanian couple who had recently arrived in the Namibian capital of Windhoek from Spain had fallen ill. Tests confirmed everyone’s fear: COVID-19 had finally come to Namibia.