Off the Top...

Four Early-Career Faculty Receive Top Award From White House

Four Duke faculty members are among nearly 400 recipients of the 2024 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.

The recipients from Duke:

Diego V. Bohórquez, associate professor of medicine
Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, associate professor in population health sciences
Amanda Randles, Alfred Winborne and Victoria Stover Mordecai Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Tania Roy, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

PECASE Professors

Federally Funded Research at Duke...

Preventing Childhood Hearing Loss Worldwide

A team of Duke University biomedical engineering (BME) students, led by Jackie Herzberg, developed an affordable and portable tympanometer to screen for childhood hearing loss, aiming to make ear infection detection more accessible in underserved communities. Traditional tympanometers are expensive and require trained professionals, but the new device is designed to be used by non-experts, with a machine learning algorithm to analyze results through a smartphone. Collaborating with global partners like hearX and local experts, the team created a functional prototype, which will eventually undergo testing.

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Hear All About It

Researchers in Biostatistics, Surgery Awarded $5 Million to Create Computational Models to Improve Flu Vaccines

The NIH has awarded over $5 million to a team from Duke's Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics and Department of Surgery to develop computational models aimed at improving flu vaccine development. Led by Cliburn Chan and Keith Reeves, the project will use human datasets to study how antibodies protect against severe influenza, with a focus on accelerating vaccine effectiveness.

Flu Funds

Celebrating the Centennial...

Trailblazer Kate Whetten

In continuation of Duke's Centennial celebrations, this week's trailblazer is Kathryn Whetten. Whetten is the director of the Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research and has dedicated 20 years to advancing health equity, from tackling childhood trauma in the Deep South to creating scalable mental health solutions worldwide. They have received support from more than 20 NIH & additional federal and foundation grants.

Centennial Trailblazer

More from Duke...

MLK Day of Service: Unity and Packing Meals and Supplies for the Community

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Duke students joined local organizations in a series of events focused on community service and unity. Over 100 students participated in the Rotary Club’s meal-packing event, assembling more than 58,000 meals for distribution in Durham. Later, the fifth annual Unity Rally brought together student-athletes for a celebration of diversity and inclusion, with keynote speaker Judge Jerry Blackwell urging students to set large societal goals. Finally, Duke students assembled 200 backpacks with essentials for children experiencing homelessness, part of The Backpack Project’s first MLK Day event.

MLK Day of Service

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