More than 5.3 million individuals — children and adults — permanently live with a brain injury-related disability, according to the Brain Injury Association of America. Two researchers from the Duke University School of Nursing, Tolu O. Oyesanya, PhD, RN, and  Karin Reuter-Rice, PhD, CPNP-AC, FCCM, FAAN, have devoted an aspect of their research toward better understanding the ramifications that brain injuries inflict on patients and their loved ones and how to give them the best health care possible.

• Read more about Duke University School of Nursing Research on Brain Injuries

Answering a long-standing need in the community for enhanced behavioral health services, Duke Health is opening a newly built center at Duke Regional Hospital that will provide a setting specifically designed for the comfort and care of these patients.

• Read more about Duke Regional Opens New Behavioral Health Center and Emergency Department

What if we could disable the defense mechanisms that enable cancer cells to evade treatment, or even control their genes to prevent them from developing into tumors in the first place? Can we enhance our brain’s ability to forestall damage from Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions? Is it possible to develop a vaccine for everything?

• Read more about Harnessing the Body’s Ability to Heal Itself

Yvonne Mowery, MD, PhD, Butler Harris Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology, is one of many physician-scientists at Duke who credits the Duke University School of Medicine’s Strong Start Program for her career growth.

• Read more about New Gift to Duke Continues Support for Early-Career Physician-Scientists

Michael Boyce, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry, never expected to be studying the lungs. He is an expert in glycobiology—the intricate mechanisms behind how sugars attach to proteins, and the role these sugars play in sending signals that influence cell biology, organ function, and more.

• Read more about Mathers Foundation Funds a Novel Approach to Understanding Common Lung Diseases

With sepsis, time is of the essence. Left untreated, the illness—a runaway immune response to infection—can quickly become life-threatening. Duke hospital medicine physician Cara O’Brien, MD, is partnering with the Duke Institute for Health Innovation to lead a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and biostatisticians that is using data science to rapidly identify at-risk patients, speed treatment, and improve outcomes.

• Read more about Buying Time to Save Sepsis Patients

Through the Regeneration Next Initiative, Duke researchers are gaining insights into how to stimulate heart muscle to regrow after injury.

• Read more about Heart Muscle Regeneration

Researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute are teaming up with several other institutions to develop a fluorescent dye that is injected into cancerous tumors and lights up when viewed under a special camera. This allows surgeons to see if residual cancer remains after the tumor has been removed.

• Read more about A Fluorescent Dye to Help Surgeons Detect Residual Cancer

Why do perfectly good cancer treatments suddenly stop working? Researcher and lymphoma survivor Kris Wood is finding answers.

• Read more about Fighting the Resistance

“One day, patients will have access to regenerative medicine treatments that will circumvent the complications of organ donation,” says Sharlini Sankaran, PhD, executive director of Duke’s Regeneration Next Initiative. “We will be able to use our bodies’ own innate repair mechanisms to eliminate the wait time, cost, and limited supply of organ transplantation. Instead of transplanting organs, we will know how to repair our own.”

• Read more about Regeneration Next