Translating Duke Health News

Duke Health leadership launched Translating Duke Health in 2017 as a multi-disciplinary, multi-year commitment to capitalize on Duke’s collective strengths in research, clinical care, and population health to address major health challenges.

Translating Duke Health (TDH) initiative is taking a deep look both into the human brain and across the human lifespan. Basic and translational research scientists across Duke are working to unravel the secrets of the human brain to discover new therapies and harness the brain’s own capacity for resilience and self-repair.  

The Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis (DCBSM) has become one of the most comprehensive destination programs in the country for treating the growing population of patients whose cancer has spread to the brain, spine, and other parts of the central nervous system. 

Animal study shows ability to overcome a long-standing hurdle in HIV vaccine development

Researchers have cleared a major obstacle in the development of an HIV vaccine, proving in animal models that effective, yet short-lasting antibodies can be coaxed into multiplying as a fighting force against the virus.

The finding, led by a team of researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) and Boston Children’s Hospital, publishes online Dec. 5.

The Translating Duke Health Initiative (TDH) —a multi-year, multidisciplinary program designed to bring Duke teams together to address society’s most challenging health issues—continues to push forward with innovative projects and new partnerships since its launch in Fall 2017. 

The goal of the initiative is to further develop expertise in five key areas—brain cancer, brain resilience, cardiovascular health, immunology, and children’s health—by focusing on faculty recruitment, retention, grant funding, research infrastructure, and educational opportunities.

Duke Neurologist, Karissa Gable, MD, is investigating the pathophysiologic mechanisms of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), advancing our understanding of this autoimmune disease and opening new potential roles for treatment. This research is made possible thanks to the GBS|CIDP Foundation International, which awarded Gable a one-year research grant.

School of Medicine faculty members Anthony Filiano, PhD; Christopher Holley, MD, PhD; and Xiaoping Zhong, MD, PhD, were selected to receive funding  from the Translating Duke Health Initiative (TDHI) for their research in immunology. Each received $75,000.

 

 

Funded projects:

Scientists from diverse training and backgrounds, including neurologists, basic scientists, environmental engineers, and psychiatrists gathered from around the world at the Washington Duke Inn this May to find new ways to treat, understand, and, eventually, cure Parkinson’s disease.

A key component of the Duke University School of Medicine’s strategic research plan is the establishment of a learning health system. The goal: to ensure that the large amounts of protected health data collected from current and previous patients as well as data realized through research projects can be more effectively used to improve patient care.

Thanks to a successful first year of Translating Duke Health (TDH), twelve new faces have popped up around the School of Medicine’s labs, clinics and meeting rooms.