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.

John Harkey and Jonathan Levin have a 25-year friendship built on trust. “He’s on the very short list of people for whom I would do anything."

When we get a cold, or a cut on our hand, we will heal. This concept of resilience is being studied and researched at Duke, and basic science research may hold many of the keys to unlocking the power of the human body to resist infection and disease.