April 26, 2025, 6pm
Duke Children’s Health Center
Support for Jodie’s Prom for Duke Children’s is provided by the Jodie Neukirch Elliott Fund at Duke, Meg’s Smile Foundation, the Division of Child and Family Mental Health and Community Psychiatry in the Duke Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Duke Children’s Health Center.
What is the prom like?
Check out the video and article below to see for yourself!
For One Night, a Hospital Lobby Turned into a Dance Floor
Sporting colorful dresses and suits, prom-goers snapped pictures and shared laughs in the hospital's lobby-turned-dance floor at Jodie's Prom for Duke Children's.
Duke Children’s Prom Renamed “Jodie’s Prom for Duke Children’s”
Since 2017, Duke Children’s has held an annual prom for adolescent and young adult patients and their families. Each year, more than 100 patients and their families have participated in the prom. Jodie Neukirch Elliott, MSW, a Duke social worker and leader of adolescent and young adult programs, coordinated prom from its inception in 2017 until her untimely death in 2022.
Jodie spent countless hours working with adolescent and young adult patients from the Adolescents Transitioning to Leadership and Success (ATLAS) program to plan the most recent virtual proms, even after having had a heart transplant in March 2020. Jodie died in August 2022 related to her chronic heart condition. In honor of her dedication to the Duke Children’s Prom and to adolescent and young adult patients at Duke, the prom has been renamed Jodie’s Prom for Duke Children’s.
Jodie’s devotion to young people and their families is an inspiration for us all. Her creative energy was exemplified by her development and delivery of the online Duke Children’s Prom during the pandemic. More than 170 members of the Duke community and Jodie’s family and friends have supported a fund at Duke—dubbed "Jodie's Fund"—to support adolescents and young adults and programs in Jodie’s honor.
“No one will judge you about, ‘Oh, you had cancer,’ or ‘Oh, you can’t walk.’ Everyone’s just out there dancing and having fun!”
— past prom participant
Duke Children’s Prom History
The annual Duke Children’s Prom started in 2017. The event is organized by the Division of Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.
The prom has been made possible by support from the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, and Duke Health. Major financial supporters have included Meg’s Smile Foundation, the Duke Hospital Auxiliary, The Pratt Family Foundation, Headbands for Hope, and the generous donors to Jodie's Fund. Each year, Jodie's Prom relies on staff volunteers from across the Duke Health system and on help from the Duke Men's Lacrosse Team, Duke Women's Soccer Team, and the Duke Men's Basketball Team to help make prom smiles happen.
Learn more about our past proms:
- 2017 – The World is Yours
- 2018 – Out of this World (space theme)
- 2019 – Once upon a Prom (fairytale theme)
- 2021 – Rock the Night Away (1950's theme; virtual due to COVID)
- 2022 – Retro Prom (1980's theme; virtual due to COVID)
- 2023 – Dancing in the Moonlight
- 2024 – All Around the World
Supporting the Prom
If you would like to support the prom and other ATLAS programs, please click on the Donate Now button below to contribute to Jodie's Fund.
If you would prefer to send a donation by mail, please address your check to Duke University and write "ATLAS (Dr. Maslow)" in the memo line. Please mail the check to:
Duke Health Development
ATTN: Emily Espenshade/Jodie's Prom
300 W. Morgan Street, Suite #1000
Durham, NC 27701
Please contact Emily Espenshade (emily.espenshade@duke.edu) with any questions about donations.
For questions about the prom or other ATLAS programming, please contact us at atlas@duke.edu or 919-385-0842.