News & Op-Eds

Through a new National Institutes of Health grant, Sarah “Sadie” Wilson, PhD, hopes to reduce inequities that place Latinx individuals at higher risk of HIV. She’s partnering with her friend and colleague, Joaquin Carcaño, director of southern health policy at Latinos in the South, to launch a community-based, equity-focused initiative in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

Starting as a grassroots project, Neurodiversity Connections aims to help neurodivergent students access mental health care, academic resources and other relevant materials through existing organizations on campus. Duke Psychiatry's Tara Chandrasekhar, MD, is one of the co-founders of the group.

Duke Health is among the health systems across the state that are using the NCCARE360 platform to better serve their patients. Susan Spratt, MD, associate professor of medicine, is leading the implementation at Duke, and Elena Tenenbaum, PhD, assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is spearheading the behavioral health facets of Duke’s efforts.

Latinx children are disproportionately impacted by mental health care inequities, including for ADHD. To help address this issue locally, a team of ADHD researchers and clinicians from Duke Psychiatry is partnering with staff from El Futuro—a non-profit outpatient clinic that provides comprehensive mental health services for Latinx families—to develop a culturally-adapted approach that enhances existing ADHD treatment for Latinx families in the Durham community. 

Karim Abdelaal, a PhD student in neurobiology, has been awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study. The fellowship program aims to build a community committed to advancing science through diversity and inclusion. Duke Psychiatry's Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, is Abdelaal’s advisor.

Understanding intersecting cultural identities — and providing care that respects and affirms those identities — is at the heart of Tyson Pankey’s work as a clinician, educator, and researcher. Pankey, who joined the Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences faculty in September 2021, wants to help flip the script on how health care providers talk to and care for people in the LGBTQ+ community.

Over the past year, leaders from the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Office for Institutional Equity, Faculty Advancement, and Disability Management have met with Duke students and team members from the university and health system to discuss how to better ​​​support inclusion and equity efforts related to neurodiversity across the Duke campus.

Peter McCann, MBBS, MSc, MRCPsych, a fifth-year internal medicine-psychiatry resident, and Rick Wolthusen, MD, MPP, a second-year psychiatry resident, have received this year’s James H. Carter, Sr. Community Service Award, established in honor of Carter’s dedication to serving the underserved. 

Duke's Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to 13 faculty-led projects exploring new ideas and expanding existing initiatives to promote an equitable and inclusive academic environment at Duke. A Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences team received funding for their "Leadership in the Lab" proposal.

In a New England Journal of Medicine "Points of View" piece, Duke Psychiatry's Damon Tweedy, MD, reflects on his medical training and shares his thoughts on what medical educators and administrators can do to resolve racial health inequity.