Growing up in the rural South, third-year Duke medical student Dorothy Gheorghiu was often the only Jewish person in her school, her neighborhood, and other settings. These experiences made her keenly aware of the importance of inclusion and belonging, and she was grateful to find a welcoming community when she came first came to Duke as an undergrad.

UNC Health and Duke Health are uniting to create a new children’s health system in North Carolina, featuring the state’s first freestanding hospital dedicated to caring for kids.

In patients with type 2 diabetes, a head-to-head comparison of the two most common types of bariatric surgery found that both may be effective for reducing long-term health care costs.

Technological advances such as artificial intelligence, big data, and gene editing have dramatically accelerated the pace of biomedical research and health care. It can be hard to predict what new developments will arise next week, much less in the next 10, 50, or 100 years.

Dr. Svati Shah, a leader in cardiovascular genetics at Duke, directs the OneDukeGen program, aiming to sequence 150,000 patients to identify actionable genetic variants. Her vision is a future where genetic sequencing at birth enables precise, equitable healthcare, potentially preventing diseases through advanced gene editing and personalized medical care.

Dr. Raphael Valdivia, the Nanaline H. Duke Distinguished Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, emphasizes the need to understand the human immune system to address diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. His research focuses on leveraging AI and genetic engineering to guide immunity, highlighting Duke's strengths in transplant immunology and infectious disease research.

Tomi Akinyemiju, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences. She emphasizes the importance of prevention and health equity in epidemiology and advocates for personalized approaches, leveraging big data and AI for risk prediction, and ensuring equitable access to medical and policy solutions to address health disparities.

Dr. Michael Kastan, director of the Duke Cancer Institute, highlights the progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing prevention, screening, and personalized medicine. He envisions future advancements through genetic and biochemical discoveries, improved technologies, and targeted therapies, fulfilling DCI's mission to revolutionize cancer care.

Kimberly Johnson, MD, MHS’05, HS’00-’02, is the Brenda E. Armstrong, MD Distinguished Professor in medicine and geriatrics. She emphasizes the need to shift health care disparities research from documenting disparities to developing interventions that improve equity, particularly in serious illness care for African Americans.

Geriatrician Heather Whitson, MD, is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience, the director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, and the co-director of the Duke-UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “For me, the true north is to help people maintain function, independence, quality of life, and resilience,” she says.