As the new chief patient officer at the American Cancer Society, Arif Kamal is working to ensure that cancer treatment goes beyond providing the appropriate therapy and also addresses each patient’s individual circumstances.

Lori Pierce, a radiation oncologist, professor, and vice provost for academic and faculty affairs at the University of Michigan, says there is an important but frequently misunderstood distinction between “equality of care” and “equity of care.”

Look at almost any arena within the world of medicine, science, and health care across the nation and beyond, and you will find individuals serving as leaders who learned and trained at Duke University School of Medicine.

Third-year Duke medical student Emily Alway grew up near Detroit, but every July, her family would travel to North Carolina for Lumbee homecoming, which includes a parade and a pow-wow. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest Native American tribe in North Carolina, and its members have traditionally lived in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland counties in the southeastern part of the state.

One of the most powerful moments Phil Lister, MD’79, had in medical school came during a lecture by Adhemar "Jim" Renuart, BS’52, MD’56, HS’57. Renuart shared with the students the challenges he experienced as both a doctor and a father to a child with medical issues.

Health care professionals found themselves facing a whirlwind of unknowns at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Among the many unanswered questions was what effect shutdowns, social isolation, and the virus itself would have on children. Despite what some stated at the time, Kurt Newman, MD’78, and his colleagues at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., believed there was cause for concern.

Blake Wilson, BSE’74, DSc, DEng, DMed (honoris causa), PhD’15, is director of the Duke Hearing Center and adjunct professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and consulting professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.

Diana McNeill, AB’78, MD’82, HS’87-’88, is a professor of medicine, endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine, and associate dean and inaugural director of Duke AHEAD (Academy of Health Professions Education & Academic Development), which has over 800 interprofessional members in Duke Health.

Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, is the William and Jane Shingleton Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology and professor of pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine and executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute. He was previously a professor of oncology, pediatrics, and molecular biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine prior to becoming chair of the Hematology-Oncology Department and later Cancer Center director at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

David H. Adams, BS'79, MD'83 is the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and cardiac surgeon-in-chief of the Mount Sinai Health System. Recognized by peers as one of the top mitral valve surgeons in the world, he established the Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center at the Mount Sinai Hospital, where he and his team have pioneered new techniques of valve repair while setting benchmarks for valve repair rates and quality.