Race, and how people are treated differently because of it, leads to major differences in health outcomes for cancer and other diseases. Tomi Akinyemiju, a social and molecular cancer epidemiologist, sees this aspect of culture and health as something to be examined and dissected, and has built her career doing that.

Those who knew and loved Owen Strong describe him as tall, lanky, handsome, smart, happy, funny, and nice: in sum, befitting his 2018 Halloween costume as The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), said his girlfriend, Stacia Smart. And Owen loved in big, giant ways, too, focusing less on his own needs and more on those of his family and friends. It was out of love that he protected them, as much as he could, after he was diagnosed with the worst kind of brain tumor in 2018.

A $5 million gift from an anonymous donor has established the first Presidential Distinguished Chair at Duke University. The Duke Presidential Distinguished Chairs, a new class of endowed professorships, were created to maximize the university’s ability to recruit and retain exceptional faculty in a wide range of disciplines, including those aligned with the Duke Science and Technology (DST) initiative.

Duke has long been a leader in brain research and working to find treatments and cures for diseases like Alzheimer's. The new Duke-UNC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center is playing a key role in this.