News

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.

"​If Your Adolescent Has Depression: An Essential Resource for Parents" combines the most current scientific expertise—including the newest treatments and medications and the latest research findings on depression—with insights and practical advice from parents whose children have faced this mood disorder. The new book was co-authored by Duke Psychiatry chair Moira Rynn, MD.

A team of researchers led by Duke Psychiatry's Nancy Zucker, PhD, recently found promising results for a brief online intervention targeted at altering young adults’ manner of engagement with social media. The intervention aimed to supplant college students’ habitual social comparison when active on social media with social savoring: experiencing joyful emotions about someone else’s experiences. For those taught how and why to socially savor their daily social media intake, shifting focus from social comparison to social savoring measurably increased their performance self-esteem.

We recently sat down with Tuyen Phan, MBA, an administrative director in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, to learn more about his path to research administration, his career at Duke, his Vietnamese culture, and his thoughts about Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“Unless the U.S. is prepared to cede its global science leadership, we must invest in supporting emerging scientists,” writes Duke Psychiatry's Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, in an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed.