The Robert J. Lefkowitz Society provides a home for MD and MD/PhD post-graduate trainees who are in the Duke University School of Medicine, and are pursuing careers with a primary focus on basic and translational research as physician-investigators.
Through formal and informal mentoring relationships, the Lefkowitz Society provides promising post-graduate trainees with a greater understanding of how to develop successful academic careers.
The Lefkowitz Society helps members grow opportunities to develop successful research projects, and helps them find appropriate research mentors and investigative teams as early as possible in order to enhance their future research success and productivity. Members will benefit from direct interactions with senior physician-investigators at Duke through a series of dinner programs and other activities.
Learn More
For more information, contact Sudarshan Rajagopal, MD, PhD, Lefkowitz Society Director and Associate Professor of Medicine, at sudarshan.rajagopal@duke.edu.
The Lefkowitz Society is named for Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2012.
In his 40 years as a Duke researcher, Dr. Lefkowitz has mentored more than 200 trainees. He has embraced the opportunity to serve as a role model and informal mentor for members of the eponymous Lefkowitz Society.
The Lefkowitz Society comprises selected Duke Medicine post-graduate trainees with either an MD or MD/PhD dual degrees and a significant interest in pursuing a research-intensive academic career.
The Society will engage 5-10 new members per year and membership will extend throughout their training as long as the career focus remains.
- The Society will be overseen by a Program Director. The program director will also assist members in selecting their primary research mentors and identifying funding opportunities.
- Members will be selected through a nomination and review process coordinated by the Society Program Director with input from residency program leaders, department chairs, and division chiefs.
- Potential candidates will be vetted through an interview.
- Following the vetting process, a formal letter signed by the Society Program Director will be issued to each approved candidate, inviting the post-graduate trainee to be a member of the society.
- The Lefkowitz Society will hold up to six dinner meetings per year on campus or at the home of a faculty member. Senior physician-investigators from Duke and elsewhere will be invited to these meetings and asked to share career advice and scientific perspectives. Selected fellows may also be invited and engaged to participate in the process.
- Society members may request financial support to attend scientific meetings over the course of residency training. These requests will be coordinated by the Society Program Director and chief residents to ensure that no scheduling issues affecting patient care staffing arise.
- Society members will also be supported to attend institutional career development activities, such as the grant writing seminar and leadership programs offered by the School of Medicine.
- The Society will coordinate with the OPSD to support an annual physician-scientist symposium to highlight Society members' research activities. In addition, members will be invited to represent the Society at Duke Clinical and Basic Science Days, and other opportunities as they arise.
- Society members will be given priority for selection into fellowship training programs at Duke.
Below is a list of Lefkowitz Society members, the medical schools they attended, and their current departments or fellowship programs.
Robert Lefkowitz was featured once again on the 'Connected Leadership' podcast to speak about his method of mentoring and the importance of community in performing scientific research.
The 'Connected Leadership' podcast explores the importance of professional relationships and executive success. This podcast episode is packed with brilliant advice, profound wisdom, and unforgettable stories that capture 'Connected Leadership' at its very best. Click the button below to listen to Dr. Lefkowitz's feature on episode 300, starting at 3 minutes and ending at 14 minutes.
Robert Lefkowitz previously appeared on the 'Connected Leadership' podcast in February 2022 to speak about his memoir 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm' that describes his journey as a scientist, ability to effectively communicate with humor, and earning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Click the button below to listen to this hour and 15-minute podcast.
Below are current members, the medical schools they attended, and affiliated fellowship departments.
|
Below are our alumni and their current roles, along with their affiliated universities or companies.
| Alumni | Current Position | University/Company |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Shoffner, MD, PhD | Critical-care physician and Surgeon | Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center/Advocate Health |
| Adrian Clark-Randall, MD | Hospitalist Physician | Duke Regional Hospital |
| Agnes Simin Chao, MD | Pediatrics/Neonatology Clinical Faculty | University of Washington |
| Ahmad Farooq, MD | Gastroenterologist/Owner | Curative Digestive Disease Center |
| Alex Gooding, MD, PhD | Radiation Oncologist | Novant Health |
| Alexa Bramall, MD, PhD | Neurosurgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Alexander Lazarides, MD | Orthopaedic Oncology Surgeon and Musculoskeletal Oncologist | Moffitt Cancer Center |
| Alexander Moghadam, MD, PhD | Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty | Duke University |
| Alexandra Bey, MD, PhD | Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty | Duke University |
| Ammon Fager, MD, PhD | Medicine/Hematology Faculty | Duke University |
| Amro Ilaiwy, MD, MPA | Associate Program Director/Clinic Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program | WakeMed |
| Andrew Morgan, MD, PhD | Medicine/Hospital Medicine | UNC |
| Angelique Boutzoukas, MD, MPH | Pediatrics/Infectious Disease Faculty | Duke University |
| Ashley Helseth, MD, PhD | Pediatric Neurology Faculty | Atrium Health |
| Ashley Stark, MD | Pediatrics Faculty | University of Chicago Medicine |
| Bangchen Wang, MD, PhD | Pathology Faculty | Duke University |
| Benjamin Cocanougher, MD, PhD | Medical Genetics Faculty | Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center |
| Bin Ni, MD, PhD | Infectious Disease Specialist | Houston Methodist Hospital |
| Bradford Becken , MD | Pediatrics/Infectious Disease Faculty | University of Nebraska |
| Brian Miller, MD, PhD | Medical Oncology Faculty | UNC |
| Candace Haddox, MD | Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute |
| Charity Oyedeji, MD | Medicine/Hematology Faculty | Duke University |
| Christopher Severyn, MD, PhD | Medical Director | Allogene Therapeutics |
| Daniel Edmonston, MD, MHS | Medicine/Nephrology Faculty | Duke University |
| Daniel Nussbaum, MD | Surgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Daniel Parker, MD | Medicine/Geriatrics and Palliative Care Faculty | Duke University |
| Daniel Sexton, MD | Neurosurgery Clinical Instructor | Stanford Medicine |
| David Beavers, MD, PhD | Cardiology Faculty | University of Tennessee |
| DeAnna Baker, MD, PhD | Rheumatology and Immunology Faculty | Medical University of South Carolina |
| Deborah Rose, MD | Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry Clinical Fellow | Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
| Dimitrios Moris, MD, MSc, PhD | Surgeon | MedStar Georgetown University Hospital |
| Emily Eichenberger, MD, MHS | Medicine/Infectious Disease Faculty | Emory University |
| Eric Wei, MD, PhD | Associate Physician, Cardiovascular Medicine; Instructor in Medicine | Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School |
| Fang Sun, MD, PhD | Neurology Faculty | University of Pittsburgh |
| Felicia Cao, MD, PhD | Hematology/Oncology Faculty | UNC |
| Ganga Moorthy, MD | Pediatrics/Infectious Disease Faculty | Duke University |
| Gentzon Hall, MD, PhD | Medicine/Nephrology Faculty | Duke University |
| George (Bert) Cortina, MD, PhD | Anesthesiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Gopalkumar Rakesh, MD | Psychiatry Faculty | University of Kentucky |
| Gustaaf de Ridder, MD, PhD | Division Chief of Transfusion Medicine | Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine |
| Hanghang Wang, MD | Cardiac Surgery Faculty | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Holly Lewis, MD, PhD | Critical Care Fellow | Cleveland Clinic |
| Irma Husain, MBBS | Medicine/Nephrology Faculty | Duke University |
| Jacob Kaufman, MD, PhD | Medical Oncology Faculty | Ohio State University |
| James Isaacs, MD | Cutaneous Medical Oncologist | Cleveland Clinic |
| James Wisler, MD | Medicine/Cardiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Jamie Privratsky, MD, PhD | Anesthesiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Jane Healy, MD, PhD | Vice President and Head of Oncology Early Development | Merck Research Laboratories |
| Jeffrey Keenan, MD | Surgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Jeffrey Prescott, MD, PhD | Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiologist | MetroHealth |
| Jessica Liu, MD, PhD | Anesthesiologist | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center |
| Jessica Regan, MD | Cardiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Jonathan Young, MD | Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty | Duke University |
| Jordan Ezekian, MD, MPH | Pediatric Cardiology Faculty | UT Southwestern Medical Center |
| Jordan Pomeroy, MD, PhD | Senior Physician | FDA |
| Joshua Parsons, MD, PhD | Medicine/ Infectious Diseases Faculty | Duke University |
| Joshua Thaden, MD, PhD | Medicine/Infectious Diseases Faculty | Duke University |
| Joyce Hwang, MD, PhD | Postdoctoral Associate, DHVI-Admin | Duke University |
| Julie Childers, MD, PhD | Pediatrician | Novant Health |
| Julie Steinbrink, MD, MHS | Medicine/Infectious Diseases Faculty | Duke University |
| Justin Low, MD, PhD | Neurosurgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD | Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty | Duke University |
| Kara Wegermann, MD | Medicine/Gastroenterology Faculty | Duke University |
| Karolina Woroniecka, MD, PhD | Pathologist | WPM Pathology Laboratory |
| Kimberly Darlington, MD, PhD | Gastroenterologist | UNC |
| Kristen Batich, MD, PhD | Neurosurgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Kristin Weimer, MD, PhD | Pediatrics/Neonatology Faculty | Duke University |
| Laura Musselwhite, MD, MPH | GI Oncologist | Atrium Health |
| Lauren Covert, M.D. | Pediatrics/Rheumatology Faculty | Duke University |
| Leah Acker, MD, PhD | Anesthesiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Manasa Gurumoorthi, MD | Cardiology Fellow | Stanford University Medicine |
| Mandar Aras, MD, PhD | Medicine/Cardiology Faculty | University of California San Francisco |
| Marcelo Cerullo, MD MPH | Thoracic Surgery Fellow | Vanderbilt University |
| Marybeth Nedrud, MD, PhD | Radiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Matthew Makowski, MD, PhD | Aerospace Medicine/Critical Care Physician | UTMB/KBR/NASA Johnson Space Center |
| Max Krucoff, MD | Neurosurgery Faculty | Medical College of Wisconsin |
| Megan DuPuis, MD, PhD | Medicine/Hematology-Oncology Faculty | Vanderbilt University |
| Melodi Whitley, MD, PhD | Dermatology Faculty | Duke University |
| Meredith K. Sooy-Mossey, MD, MS | Pediatrics/Cardiology Faculty | East Carolina University |
| Michael Kritzer-Cheren, MD, PhD | Neuropsychiatry Faculty | Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Michael Mulvihill, M.D. | Surgery Faculty | University of Minnesota |
| Michael T. Forrester, MD, PhD | Medicine/Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine Faculty | Duke University |
| Mike Powers, MD, MBA | Cardiology Faculty | University of Iowa |
| Muath Bishawi, MD, MPH | Surgery Faculty | Emory University |
| Nathan Hawkey, MD, MBA | Medical Director | Tubulis GmbH |
| Nellie Farrow, MD | Surgery Faculty | Emory University |
| Nicholas DeVito, MD | Medicine/Medical Oncology Faculty | Duke University |
| Nicholas Mischel, MD, PhD | Psychiatry Faculty | Wayne State University |
| Nicholas Turner, MD | Medicine/Infectious Diseases Faculty | Duke University |
| Peter Hendrickson, MD, PhD | Radiation Oncology Faculty | University of Cincinnati |
| Rachel Randell, MD, MS | Pediatrics/Rheumatology Faculty | Duke University |
| Reid Chamberlain, MD, MSCI | Pediatrics/Cardiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Robert McGarrah, MD | Medicine/Cardiology Faculty | Duke University |
| Rohan Vilms, MD | Medical Director | Inventprise |
| Siddhartha Sen, MD, PhD | Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Faculty | University of Minnesota |
| Sonali Bracken, MD, PhD | Medicine/Rheumatology and Immunology Faculty | Duke University |
| Stacey Maskarinec, MD, PhD | Medicine/Infectious Diseases Faculty | Duke University |
| Stephen Gaeta, MD, PhD | Cardiologist | Inova Medical Group |
| Stephen Harward II, MD, PhD | Neurosurgery Faculty | Duke University |
| Tanmay Gokhale, MD, PhD | Medicine/Cardiology Faculty | University of Pittsburgh |
| Taymour Hammoudi, MD, PhD | Pediatrics/Heme/Onc and Bone Marrow Transplantation Faculty | University of Colorado |
| Tessa Genders, MD, PhD | Medicine/Cardiology Faculty | University of Colorado |
| Timothy Robinson, MD, PhD | Radiation Oncology Faculty | Yale School of Medicine |
| Tsion Aberra, MD, PhD | Cardiologist | Cardiocare |
| Vignesh Raman, MD, MHS | Thoracic Surgeon | UCLA Health |
| Vijay Swahari, MD | Staff Psychiatrist/Clinical Consultant | Alaska VA HealthCare System/VeraSci |
| Yike Jiang, MD, PhD | Pediatrics/Rheumatology Faculty | Duke University |
| Yvonne Mowery, MD, PhD | Radiation Oncology Faculty | University of Pittsburgh |
| Zachary Ryan Healy, MD, PhD | Medicine/Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine Faculty | Duke University |
| Zachary Silver, MD, PhD | Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellow | University of California San Francisco |