News

Photo: Dara Schoffner (Women of Spirit), Margie Scott (Cancer Survivor Support Ministry), Gayathri Devi (Duke), and Gwendolyn Villines (Women of Spirit)

Gayathri R. Devi, PhD, Associate Professor in Surgery, Division of Surgical Sciences, was a keynote speaker at the International Inflammatory Breast Cancer Meeting in Madrid, Spain. Dr. Devi is the Program Director for the Duke Consortium for Inflammatory Breast Cancer. The title of her talk was "Multi-Scale Modeling of the Unique Progression of Inflammatory Breast Cancer."

While the cause is not definitive, the health risks serve as a call for research and action

North Carolinians who live near large hog farms -- known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs -- have higher death rates from a variety of causes than comparable state residents who live further away from such facilities.

In a research study published in Nature Biotechnology, Duke researchers report that they have found a safer way to prevent blood clotting, and reverse the effects, in patients undergoing surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Congratulations to three Duke Surgery researchers chosen to present abstracts at recent and upcoming events. All the researchers work on a team directed by Dawn Bowles, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Surgical Sciences.

We are pleased to announce that Aravind Asokan, PhD, will join the Department of Surgery as the new Director of Gene Therapy in the Division of Surgical Sciences with a secondary appointment in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology. Dr. Asokan comes to Duke from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, where he served as Associate Professor in the Departments of Genetics and Biochemistry & Biophysics.

Photo: Cell Death Laboratory members Samantha Bouchal, Pranalee Patel, and Jennifer McMains

Duke Health introduces new research initiative to overcome hurdles of immunity.

Risa Gearhart-Serna, a predoctoral student in the lab of Gayathri Devi, PhD, Associate Professor in Surgical Sciences, has been selected to receive the Duke Environmental Health Scholars (EHS) award for her project "Identifying Aggressive Breast Cancer Outcome Correlations with Environmental Contaminant Exposure: A Geospatial Analysis Project Using North Carolina as a Model."

Gayathri Devi, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Surgical Sciences, was an invited speaker at the Annual Geographical Management of Cancer Health Disparities Program (GMaP) symposium this morning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Public Health. Dr. Devi presented in the panel on peer support and community resources related to Transdisciplinary Science to Advance the Elimination of Cancer Health Disparities.