News

The Office of Le Well in the Duke University School of Medicine (SOM) received a $500K Duke Endowment grant to support an initiative to help students succeed and thrive in their clinical learning programs. Jane Gagliardi, MD, MHS, associate dean for learning environment and well-being at the SOM, and Melanie Bonner, PhD, assistant dean for student services at the SOM, will lead the project. Both are Duke Psychiatry professors.

In his new book, Duke Psychiatry's Warren Kinghorn, MD, examines ways that modern medicine shapes mental health care and contrasts them with a more holistic approach championed by Saint Thomas Aquinas. By spotlighting this more person-centered approach to mental health care, Kinghorn challenges mental health clinicians to look beyond merely diagnosing and treating symptoms to healing the patient as a whole.

Three faculty members who have retired from the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences this year have been honored with emeritus/emerita status: James Blumenthal, PhD, ABPP, Scott Moore, MD, PhD, and Patricia A. Resick, PhD, ABPP.

Congratulations to our Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences trainees and faculty members who received these year-end awards.

After 45 years of service to the Duke University School of Medicine, James A. Blumenthal, PhD, ABPP, J. P. Gibbons Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, retired in February 2024. He was widely recognized as the leading behavioral science researcher in the field of cardiac rehabilitation and behavioral approaches to the clinical management of cardiovascular disorders.

In a talk on May 31 on the Duke campus, Temple Grandin, PhD, discuss connections between animal behavior and autism. The talk was organized by the Durham County Library and co-sponsored by the Durham Library Foundation and the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development.

Several Duke CTSI experts on best practices for inclusive community-engaged research—including Duke Psychiatry's Dane Whicker, PhD—joined the panel for “Building Inclusion into Research: Language Matters,” a virtual Research Town Hall hosted by the Duke Office of Scientific Integrity.

Duke University School of Medicine’s Black employee resource group held its third annual Juneteenth celebration on June 20. The event featured keynote speaker Damon Tweedy, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is known as a mental health resource for students on college campuses around the country. Former Duke Psychiatry faculty member Dr. Kenneth Rockwell was instrumental in creating Duke’s CAPS, and former faculty member Dr. Joseph Talley worked at CAPS from its inception in the 1970s till his retirement in 2022. Dr. Rockwell is highlighted as part of Duke's Centennial celebration.

This National Institutes of Health article highlights a recent publication by researchers from Duke Center for Autism & Brain Development and collaborators. According to the study, supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, a tablet-based screening tool that analyzes children’s behavior in response to specific video clips shows promise for enhancing early autism screening.