Dr. Nia S. Mitchell Selected as Vice Chief of Faculty Affairs for the DGIM
Congratulations to Dr. Nia S. Mitchell on being selected as Vice Chief of Faculty Affairs for the Division of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Mitchell, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Program Director for Research and Scholarship for the Duke Internal Medicine Residency Program. She has extensive experience mentoring trainees and early-career faculty, with leadership roles in faculty coaching, recruitment, and scholarly advancement.
Remembering Kevin B. Waters, MD
Kevin B. Waters, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and longtime director of Duke Executive Health, passed away on August 3, 2026.Dr. Waters joined Duke Executive Health in 1999 and served as its director since 2000. During his tenure, he helped build and lead a nationally recognized program focused on preventative care, comprehensive health assessments, and risk factor management. He was dedicated to helping patients better understand their health and develop personalized strategies for lifelong wellness.
Dr. Fatima Syed Selected for NC Department of Health and Human Services Physician Fellowship
Congratulations to Fatima Zahara Syed, MD, MSc, FACP, who will begin a year-long, part-time fellowship with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) on July 1. The fellowship is designed for early- and mid-career primary care physicians to learn about and contribute to the development of state health policies and programs. During the fellowship, Dr. Syed will continue her clinical practice at Duke and serve as Director of the Primary Care Leadership Track.
2026 ACP & SGIM Faculty & Trainee Presentations
Joel Boggan
[SGIM]
[IMEB: Innovations in Medical Education Oral Presentations, AI & Educational Technology]: A Large Language Model Method to Characterize Trainee Clinical Experiences
Date/Time: May 7, 8:15 – 9:15AM
DGIM at SGIM 2025 -- Presentations & Posters
The Society for General Internal Medicine’s (SGIM) annual meeting will be held in Hollywood, FL, May 14-17, 2025. This year’s meeting theme is “From Ideas to Action: Catalyzing Change in Academic Internal Medicine.” The meeting will feature more than 200 educational sessions and events including Workshops, Clinical Updates, Special Symposia Sessions, Poster Sessions, Distinguished Professor Talks, Pre-course Sessions, and Mentoring Panels. Check out the many faculty and trainees from DGIM scheduled to present at the meeting!
Lynch Lecture Series
The Division hosted Australian family doctor Johanna Lynch, PhD MBBS, Grad Cert (Health Sciences), FRACGP FASPM, for a series of five presentations on November 17th-Nov 19th.
Orlando Leading Clinical Trial on Enhancing Family Health History Collection
Lori Orlando, MD is spearheading an NIH-funded research initiative aimed at improving the use of Family Health History (FHH) in genomic medicine. The study, called the Genomic Medicine Risk Assessment Care for Everyone (GRACE), focuses on developing a scalable solution for integrating FHH-based risk assessments in clinical settings.
Next Educator Cafe - Oct 31!
Please join us for the next quarterly Educator Cafe on Oct 31! All GIM educators, whether inpatient/outpatient, new to Duke or a seasoned veteran, are welcome. Faculty are invited to bring projects and topics to this community for discussion and feedback. We will discuss educator needs related to:
Dr. Sanghee Hong Receives National ASCO Conquer Cancer Career Development Award
Sanghee Hong, MD, an assistant professor at Duke University School of Medicine, has received a career development award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Conquer Cancer Foundation to advance research aimed at improving access to potentially curative cancer treatments.
Meet the Department of Medicine 2026 Distinguished Professors
Duke University has awarded distinguished professorships to 22 faculty members in the School of Medicine, three of whom are from the Department of Medicine. Congratulations to Drs. Andrew Armstrong, Susan Nichole Hastings, and Jonathan Paul Piccini Sr.
Former CDC Director Cohen Advises Doctors on Leadership, Consensus Building of Public Trust in Medicine
Renowned public health policy expert Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, called on physicians to embrace consensus building around public trust in health care as confidence in federal agencies has fallen significantly this year — reaching a record low for the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in some recent polls — in delivering the 2025 Eugene A. Stead Jr. Memorial Medicine Grand Rounds Lecture, “Leading Through Crisis and Change."
Dr. Kimberly Johnson Receives State of Science in Palliative Care Research Mentoring Award
Kimberly S. Johnson, MD, MHS, Brenda E. Armstrong, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, has been selected by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine to receive the 2026 State of the Science in Palliative Care Research Mentoring Award for her groundbreaking contributions to palliative care research and mentorship.
Dr. Aimee K. Zaas to Receive Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award
Aimee K. Zaas, MD, MHS, professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases and director of the Duke University School of Medicine Internal Medicine (IM) Residency Program is a recipient of the 2026 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.
Dr. Jane Trinh Honored by National Academic Internal Medicine Group
Dr. Jane Trinh, Medicine-Pediatrics (MED-PEDS) division chief in the Department of Pediatrics and professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Duke, is the recipient of the 2026 MPPDA Leadership in Med-Peds Award from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM).
Duke Awarded Funding to Raise Standard of Care for Pain Management
Chronic pain is one of the most burdensome conditions in the United States, with lower back pain comprising the largest subset of those conditions, and veterans bearing a disproportionate amount of this societal burden. Two Duke researchers plan to change that reality and raise the standard of pain care management.
The Long Game: Dr. Anna Mae Diehl is Changing the Understanding of Liver Disease
After decades of persistence, researcher Dr. Anna Mae Diehl is transforming the understanding of liver disease and offering therapeutic promise for millions living with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and other forms of liver injury.
Dr. Samantha Menegas to Serve as 2026-2027 Durham VA Chief Resident for Quality, Safety
Dr. Samantha Menegas, MD, senior assistant resident in the Duke Internal Medicine Residency Program, has been selected to serve as the Durham Veterans Administration Health Care System Chief Resident for Quality and Safety (CRQS) for 2026-27.
COVID-19 in Children Linked to Reduced Gut Microbiota Diversity, Altered Immune Response
A study by Duke researchers is offering compelling new evidence on how gut microbes shape children's resilience to COVID-19 — and potential new therapies for children with viral infections.