News

Congratulations to our trainees and faculty members who received year-end awards at our recent Graduate Medical Education graduation ceremony, including Outstanding Resident Educator, Outstanding Resident Clinician, Outstanding Resident Researcher, and outstanding teaching and mentoring awards for faculty members.

School of Medicine Dean Mary E. Klotman, MD, announced this week that Duke’s first Presidential Distinguished Chair will be named in honor of outgoing Chancellor for Health Affairs A. Eugene Washington, MD, and his wife, Marie. The professorship will be awarded to Duke Psychiatry's Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD.

A new multi-disciplinary team-based care model at Duke is changing lives for patients with lupus. The integrated care team addresses patients’ medical and psychological needs to improve outcomes, especially for Black women, who statistically have higher rates and worse outcomes from the disease. Duke Psychiatry's Keisha-Gaye O'Garo, PsyD, initiated the expansion of the care team through a Duke leadership program.

Richard Keefe, PhD, and Jed Rose, PhD, who retired from Duke Psychiatry last year, were among the 2023 Distinguished Emeriti Faculty honored by the School of Medicine at a ceremony at the Washington Duke Inn on June 13. 

Experts agree that regular physical exercise has a myriad of physical health benefits, but the connection between working out and improving mental well-being can often be overlooked. According to Duke Psychiatry's Rhonda Merwin, PhD, there’s plenty of science to back this connection up.

Durham Magazine highlights Duke Psychiatry's Lisa Amaya-Jackson, MD, MPH, who has spent the past 30 years at Duke University in the same field as her father: child psychiatry. The reach of her decades of research and clinical work has positively affected outcomes for thousands of children and their families in Durham and beyond.

Congratulations to Andi Diaz Stransky, MD, of Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and her colleagues on completing the School of Medicine's 2023 LEADER Program.

In a commentary in the journal Cell, 52 Black scientists including Duke Psychiatry's Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, establish the context of Juneteenth in STEMM and discuss the barriers Black scientists face, the struggles they endure, and the lack of recognition they receive. They review racism’s history in science and provide institutional-level solutions to reduce the burdens on Black scientists.

Duke Psychiatry physician assistant Allison Taylor, PA-C, was selected to receive the inaugural Dean’s Excellence Staff Award in the School of Medicine.  

Jane Gagliardi, MD, MHS, has been named the new Associate Dean for Learning Environment and Well-being, effective July 1. Gagliardi is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, professor of medicine, and the director of the Combined Internal Medicine-Psychiatry Residency Training Program.