What Duke Experts Are Saying...

Former FDA Commissioner: "We Are Not Opening Back Up to the Way Things Were Before"

During a recent briefing, Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and former FDA commissioner, cautioned that life won't quickly return to how it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized that progress will come gradually, with occasional steps backward. For more detail on McClellan's insights on tracing capacity, business and school reopenings, you can listen to the event recording available here.

Open Sesame

Duke Experts: A Trusted Source for Policymakers

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts across Duke University and Duke Health have been critical in informing policymakers at the local, state and national level. Scholars, doctors and Duke administrators collaborate with policymakers every day but have been increasingly engaged in public policy decisions.

"It is both inspiring and reassuring to see the number of Duke faculty members who have answered the call to provide analysis to policymakers."

- Mike Schoenfeld, Duke's Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations

Policy Patrol

Duke Experts Talk Businesses & Coronavirus

On April 29, Duke University Communications held a press briefing on how COVID-19 will impact a variety of businesses including entrepreneurs, small businesses and local news companies. Cathy Clark, professor at the Fuqua School of Business and director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) said that one of the best opportunities for entrepreneurs right now is, "the rapid movements from all levels of government to get "frictionless cash" into the hands of small businesses as quickly as possible."

Business, Man

Gen. Dempsey on Civil-Military Relations Post COVID-19

On April 23, Duke in DC and Duke's Program in American Grand Strategy (AGS) co-hosted a virtual congressional briefing with General Martin Dempsey G'84 and Duke professor Peter Feaver. Dempsey gave his interpretation of U.S. civil-military relations today and how he anticipates they will evolve due to COVID-19.

"We are in a crisis now and it will exacerbate certain issues while muting other things." - Gen. Dempsey

Keep it Civil

Addressing Data & Privacy Concerns During a Pandemic

Three Duke faculty members: David Schanzer, David Hoffman and Shane Stansbury recently participated in a conversation moderated by Inès Jordan-Zoob T'19 about the use of surveillance tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The speakers confronted the issue of achieving both privacy and public safety.

"We are facing a crisis of information... information we want isn't in our control as a government. It is in the control of private companies."

- Shane Stansbury

Privacy or Public Safety?

How Duke is Fighting COVID-19...

Rapid Response. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created a portable diagnostic tool that can detect telltale markers of disease as accurately as the most sensitive tests on the market, while cutting the wait time for results from hours or even days to 15 minutes. The team received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Rapid Response Research grant to adapt this testing platform originally designed for Ebola to detect the COVID-19 virus.

Response Time

Colleges Ponder the Risks of Accepting Federal Aid

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently posted an article describing the conundrum for many colleges and universities to not apply for some of the federal stimulus money meant for needy students. As of Monday, only about 60% of eligible institutions had applied for federal stimulus relief from the Department of Education. While Secretary DeVos emphasized that colleges would be given a great deal of flexibility to spend the money as they saw fit, universities are seeing more and more strings attached to those dollars.

Chronic Problems

COVID-19 and Food Safety

According to Ashton Merk PhD '20, "we need to start talking about COVID-19 as a food safety issue." Although the virus cannot be transmitted through consumption of food, as more meatpacking and poultry processing workers die from COVID-19 in their workplaces, we may need to broaden our definition of food safety risks.

Comfort Food

Duke Researchers Study the Shape of COVID-19

Stacy Horner's Laboratory at Duke studies how RNA viruses replicate inside human cells. By figuring out how viruses and cells interact at the molecular level, Horner can inform the development of antivirals and strategies to block viral replication. According to Horner, a step-by-step understanding of what the virus needs to survive at each step of its replication cycle will allow us to design molecules that are able to block these crucial steps.

Shape Shifting

More News From Duke...

School Isn't Out for Summer. To accommodate student needs for additional learning opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke officials have overhauled the two Summer Sessions to double the number of course offerings and make them more affordable. Summer Session 1 courses expanded from 60 last year to over 150, and the expanded range of courses opens additional opportunities for learning not usually available during summer sessions. Additionally, several classes will also address pandemic-related topics including Macroeconomics of COVID-19, Epidemics in the Age of Interdependence and more.

Education in Overtime

Project Phoenix

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many students to lose their summer internship opportunities, but that did not stop a group of students in Duke's computer science and engineering departments from joining together to create their own internships, called Project Phoenix. The program places teams of technology-minded students together to work remotely over the summer on projects for businesses, government organizations and academic institutions.

Order of the Phoenix

Reinventing Performances

The Department of Theater Studies was less than a month away from opening night of its Spring Production until it was shut down due to COVID-19. Rather than give up, the production team thought of new ways they could transition to a remote performance and landed on a live reading of the play via Zoom. When asked why the show must go on - Jeff Storer, director and Theater Studies faculty member, said that the arts provide empathy and understanding during this unprecedented time in our collective history.

Virtual Viewing

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