News

The holidays can be both merry and heavy. Between gatherings, shopping and expectations, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Duke wellness professionals including clinical psychologist Ilana Pilato, PhD, share tips to protect your peace and care for your mind, body and spirit this season.

Internal medicine-psychiatry resident Lynette Staplefoote-Boynton, MD, MPH, is on a mission to better equip primary care and psychiatry trainees at Duke and beyond to counsel their patients on nutrition and food insecurity. This goal inspired her to develop a curriculum on the topic with the mentorship of Jane Gagliardi, MD, MHS.

Despite his yearslong battle with cancer, Duke University student Bobby Menges was always thinking about helping others. That sentiment inspired his parents to create the I’m Not Done Yet Foundation in his memory. The foundation surpassed $1 million in gifts to Duke Health in 2025 and has transformed how the Duke Cancer Institute supports young people with cancer. It helps support the work of Duke Psychiatry’s Caroline Dorfman, PhD.

On October 30, more than 100 faculty, staff, and trainees from Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences gathered for a dynamic research retreat, hosted by the department’s clinical research unit at Duke University's Penn Pavilion.

The clinical health psychology symposium aims to build community and connection while providing learning opportunities specific to the unique challenges of providing psychological services in medical and surgical settings. The virtual monthly series was founded by Duke Psychiatry's Katherine Applegate, PhD.

In this Working@Duke article highlighting a staff member whose role requires navigating significant change, Duke Psychiatry's Rhonda Merwin, PhD, notes that “Uncertainty and change are not the problem — it’s our resistance to them that causes suffering.”

Harold Kudler, MD, a medical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, received the Outstanding Service Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, which honors a member of ISTSS who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the Society—enhancing its mission, advancing its goals, and strengthening its impact over time.

Jonathan Posner, MD, the J.P. Gibbons Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, was one of four Duke faculty members selected to serve as Provost Faculty Fellows for 2025-26, along with Mark Borsuk, PhD, Jimmy Roberts, PhD, and Aarthi Vadde, PhD.

Most concussions heal within a few weeks, but about 10% of patients experience lingering symptoms. These long-term sufferers are the ones neuropsychologist Pete Duquette, PhD, usually sees in his current practice. Duquette also conducts research aimed at identifying ways to develop more individualized treatment plans for concussions.

A team at Duke University School of Medicine has received a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to improve and expand an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps catch early signs of mental health problems in teenagers and adolescents.