Kim Lyerly was selected in April to become the director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to his appointment, he served as professor of surgery, associate professor of pathology and assistant professor of immunology at Duke University Medical Center. Lyerly is well known for his innovation in bringing basic science concepts into clinical testing and was part of the team of investigators who first reported the use of AZT for the treatment of HIV infection. In his capacity as director, Lyerly aims to create for investigators and patients at Duke the nation's best environment for bringing scientific discoveries rapidly into clinical practice.
In June Duke University appointed two new vice presidents to oversee financial operations and campus services. B. Hofler Milam, senior vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at QualChoice of North Carolina, was named vice president for financial services. Kemel Dawkins, associate vice president for facilities at Yale University, was named vice president for campus services. Both will report to Executive Vice President Tallman Trask III, joining the campus team that oversees everything from money to monuments.
Ben Reese, former assistant vice president for institutional equity, was selected in May to become Duke University's new vice president for institutional equity, overseeing efforts to promote diversity and foster equal opportunity within the university and health system. Reese, a clinical psychologist, succeeded Sally M. Dickson, who served in the post for three years before announcing in April that she would return to Stanford University to become associate vice provost for faculty development and associate dean of humanities and sciences.
Huntington Willard, a leader in the emerging field of genomics and former director and president of the research institute of University Hospitals of Cleveland, was named director of the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (IGSP). The $200-million institute is spearheading Duke's multidisciplinary approach to the study of the genome. Willard, who received his A.B. in biology from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Yale University, will oversee activities at the institute’s five centers, where researchers are carrying out studies on the genetic basis of diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to cancer, as well as developing new computational research techniques and organizing forums that explore the societal impact of genomic advances.


Duke welcomed six new voting members to its Board of Trustees:
Wilton Alston E'81 of Rochester, NY, immediate past president of the Duke Alumni Association; Anne T. Bass of Fort Worth, Texas, president of the Anne T. & Robert M. Bass Foundation; Paula Hannaway Crown T'80 of Chicago and Aspen, Colo., a principal of Henry Crown and Company, a private investment firm; Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey T'62, D'66, of Columbia, S.C., resident bishop of the Columbia area for the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church; Susan M. Stalnecker T’73 of Wilmington, Del., vice president of government and consumer markets, E.I. du Pont De Nemours & Company--Safety and Protection. Sara Elrod T'02 of Edgewood, Ky., a law student at the University of Kentucky, began a two-year "young trustee" voting term.