Inspirational Stories

A friend of Duke Health understands firsthand the struggle of being overweight. “Being overweight comes with a myriad of medical, physical, and emotional problems,” said the anonymous donor, of Rye Brook, New York. “For me, it was about my own self-esteem and wanting to improve my health.” 

Duke Health, in partnership with the Durham County Department of Public Health, has been awarded a grant totaling $750,000 from The Duke Endowment.

A Duke Children's clinic finds the perfect match in a supporter with a passion for helping those who need it most.

The choice to become a Duke Children's donor launched George Grody down a path of giving that recently topped $1 million.

In 2021, a baby boy named Easton Sinnamon was the first person in the world to receive a combination heart transplant and allogeneic processed thymus tissue implantation. Six months later, a video showed Easton smiling and playing in a high chair, and tests indicated that the processed thymus tissue was working: building the T cells needed for a well-functioning immune system.

In 2008, Cynthia Toth, MD, set out to develop optical coherence tomography (OCT), a technology that bounces light waves off different parts of the eye, providing a finely detailed look inside the eye’s tissues for pediatric use. She is now recognized as the founder of pediatric OCT. For infants and children.

Gift by Marion Stein, MD, to support research and faculty at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.

Carol Deane advances her long history of support for Duke by establishing a Presidential Distinguished Chair

A new gift from the R.J. Samulski Innovation Foundation has endowed a professorship in the Department of Radiation Oncology.

The Robert and Lisa Margolis Family Foundation has given $10 million to Duke University towards the Margolis Center for Health Policy.