By the numbers
Duke’s School of Medicine has 410 MD students enrolled. The PhD Programs in Basic Sciences have 476 students. Within the Allied Health Programs, the Physical Therapy program has 155 students; the Physician Assistant program 115 students; the Pathologist’s Assistant program 13 students; the Clinical Leadership Program (MHS degree) 3 students; the Clinical Research Program (MHS degree) 61 students; and the Ophthalmic Medical Technician Program 13 students.
The school has 877 trainees enrolled in Graduate Medical Education.
In 2006-2007 the school held 261 Continuing Medical Education activities, which were attended by 40,000 physicians and 18,000 non-physicians.
The school employs 1,756 full-time faculty members.
Highlights
The medical school rose to #5 in the nation in research funding from the National Institutes of Health in FY2005 (rankings issued in September 2006), and also ranked #8 in the 2008 U.S.News & World Report ranking of U.S. medical schools (issued in March 2007).
As part of its $287-million Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Duke two grants totaling $46.5 million to further international collaborations to accelerate HIV vaccine development.
Duke and the National University of Singapore in September 2006 celebrated the groundbreaking for a permanent facility of the new Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore.
The Duke Translational Medicine Institute, designed to accelerate the development of new therapies, was launched with a $52.7-million NIH grant.
Faculty continued to advance scientific knowledge through notable discoveries such as discovering a key to growing new stem cells, which may lead to new treatments for patients with blood disorders, immune defects, and some genetic diseases. Duke physician-scientists also reported the development of the Lung Metagene Predictor, the first genomic test to predict which lung cancer patients need chemotherapy to live, as well as an experimental RNA-based drug -- the first of its kind -- that can effectively and safely kill prostate cancer cells.
More highlights and research news
Awards and recognition
Barton Haynes was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Samuel Katz was awarded the 2006 Alfred I. DuPont Award for Excellence in Children’s Health Care as well as the 2007 Pollin Prize for his lifetime contributions to pediatric research and vaccine development.
Robert J. Lefkowitz received the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research -- America’s top prize in medicine -- as well as the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine for his research into the body’s receptor system.
Jane S. Richardson was elected to the Institute of Medicine.
Terry Lechler, Michelle P. Winn, Farshid Guilak, Paul Noble, Rob Wechsler-Reya, and Tannishtha Reya were named as the inaugural Duke Med Scholars.
Faculty and staff appointments
Peter Agre, Nobel laureate and vice chancellor for science and technology, was named director of Duke’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)
Harvey Jay Cohen was named chair of the Department of Medicine.
Ranga Krishnan was appointed executive vice dean for the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore.
R. Sanders Williams was appointed to the newly created position of senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, transitioning from his position as dean of the medical school.
Additional appointments and awards are noted in Spring 2007 faculty meeting brochure (PDF 808KB)
Major gifts
The Medical School received $5.5 million from The Duke Endowment for a variety of research and educational initiatives.
The school also received $5 million from the Hubert Trust of Atlanta -- Richard N. Hubert, trustee -- to the Hubert-Yeargan Center for Global Health. The gift was the second from the Hubert Trust and will expand research, service, and educational opportunities in global health for students and health care professionals at Duke and neighboring colleges and universities.
An anonymous donor provided $5 million to support research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke -- $2.5 million in honor of Henry Friedman, MD, and $2.5 million in honor of Allan Friedman, MD, deputy directors of the center.
A $2-million grant was received from the V Foundation for collaborative research between the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Cancer Center. Joseph Nevins, MD, of Duke and Charles Perou, MD, of UNC will work together on “Programs to Develop Genomic Strategies for Personalized Cancer Treatment.”
A commitment of more than $2 million over three years was made by the Edna and Fred Mandel Foundation to support Duke research on the causes and treatment of atherosclerosis and hypertension. Awards went to Victor J. Dzau, MD, Thomas Coffman, MD, Laura Schanberg, MD, Michelle Winn, MD, Paul Rosenberg, MD, and Thomas Povsic, MD.
$1,591,000 was received from the late Nancy E. Gary, MD, a former patient, for pulmonary hypertension research conducted by Victor Tapson, MD.
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund donated $1.1 million, including $700,000 for the 2007 Career Awards for Medical Scientists Program to Anil Potti, Duke Institute for Genome Science and Policy, and $400,000 for the 2007 Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Awards to Raphael Valdivia, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
The 13th Annual Radiothon for Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center on MIX 101.5 and 99.9 Genuine Country stations raised $1,004,591.99 in gifts and pledges.
Arthur Balderacchi, T’60 donated $1 million to fund the John J. Balderacchi Endowed International Cancer Research Fund and the John J. Balderacchi Research Fund for International Cancer Therapeutics, supporting research led by Neil Spector, MD, on signaling pathways.
More than $850,000 was contributed by friends and colleagues of Duke pediatric HIV/AIDS researcher and children’s global health advocate Catherine Wilfert, MD, professor emeritus of pediatrics and microbiology, to establish an endowed fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases in her name.
$620,000 received from Robert T. King Jr. of Hickory, North Carolina, was combined with matching funds from the Duke University Financial Aid Initiative, to establish the King Family Scholarship endowment to support MD/PhD students at the Duke University School of Medicine. The gift is in honor of Robert T. King III, T’84, MD’88.
$607,000 was given to the Division of Urology from the estate of Christine Howard Bullard, a grateful patient, for the Christine Howard Bullard and Daniel J. Bullard Endowment to support urology research and educational initiatives of Cary N. Robertson, MD.
$100,000 was received from the McKesson Foundation for school-based wellness academies with Fred Johnson, director of community health, Department of Community and Family Medicine.
$100,000 was received from Dr. and Mrs. Victor A. Politano to establish the Politano Lecture in the Division of Urologic Surgery. Politano is a 1944 alumnus of the School of Medicine and was the chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Miami.