Joanna Downer has been at Duke since January 2006. Since 2009, she has led Research Development at the School of Medicine. She previously worked in science writing & media relations, first at Duke and then at Johns Hopkins. At Duke, she covered basic and clinical cancer research, and at Hopkins she covered the biomedical sciences, genetic medicine, and cell engineering. She also has extensive experience in scientific editing and is a Certified Professional Coach. Downer holds an MA and PhD in nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. While in graduate school, she was a Mass Media Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, placed at Time Magazine in Washington, DC. She also earned a BS with Honors in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.