News

Throughout her life, actor Melissa Gilbert has recoiled at the sounds of gum chewing and other everyday sounds—but she was well into adulthood before she discovered why she found these noises so distressing. Gilbert has misophonia, a disorder characterized by unusually strong sensitivity and reactivity to a particular trigger sound. She recently partnered with Zach Rosenthal, PhD, director of the Duke Center for Misophonia & Emotion Regulation, creating a brief video to promote awareness, provide hope, and invite people to help fund misophonia research and advocacy. 

Deborah Koltai, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry, neurosurgery, and neurology, helped organize the first East African Women’s Leadership Consortium at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania. A dozen women, representing universities and research facilities from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, participated in the workshop, which was funded by the Duke Global Health Institute.

Behind every electronic medical record is a human being with feelings, a story, and a voice. “Untold Stories” is a narrative medicine project on display at Duke University School of Medicine. Born out of a desire to connect more deeply with patients at the Duke Outpatient Clinic, internal medicine-psychiatry resident Jeffrey Lee, MD, created the initiative that blends storytelling and photography to uncover the personal experiences behind medical records.

Two new National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grants—a $1.1 million R25 awarded to Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and a $1.7 million T32 awarded jointly to Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and North Carolina Central University—will provide much-needed support toward filling critical gaps in research training opportunities in mental health and developmental neuroscience.

For decades, Duke’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences has taken a multi-pronged approach to addressing trauma in the local and national community. More recently, the department has expanded its cadre of clinicians trained in providing trauma-informed care across the lifespan. This growth has led to better access to care for patients who have experienced trauma. It has also opened up opportunities to educate and support Duke clinicians in caring for these patients. And it’s created a tight-knit community of trauma experts who rely on each other for support, validation, and ongoing personal and professional development. The team’s efforts also extend beyond campus through engagement in local, national, and international community-led partnerships and initiatives.

Duke University School of Medicine has been selected to participate in a Kern National Network for Flourishing in Medicine national demonstration project to advance open inquiry and respectful discourse in academic medicine. The Duke task force will be led by Jane Gagliardi, MD, MHS; Melanie Bonner, PhD; Aditee Narayan, MD; and Joseph Jackson, MD. Gagliardi and Bonner are Duke Psychiatry faculty members.

On the anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Duke Graduate School takes an opportunity to reflect on the state of disability justice today, especially here at Duke, and to highlight the exciting, ongoing work of students, faculty, and staff as it relates to disability—including efforts by Duke Psychiatry's Sam Brandsen, PhD, and Tara Chandrasekhar, MD.

Assistant professor Tyson Pankey, PhD, MPH, has been named vice chair for equity, diversity, and inclusion for the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, effective August 1, 2024. A clinician, researcher, and educator, Pankey specializes in culturally responsive behavioral health and education among minority patients, including those with intersecting cultural identities and backgrounds.

One-on-one time with Duke University baseball players made a unique experience at the third annual Baseball Duke Bonanza even more extraordinary. Running the bases, catching a ball in the outfield, and trying out the batting cages in a college ballpark will be special memories for the children who participated.

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.