Division News

Two faculty from the Department of Medicine have been recognized with awards from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

A gathering called a Death Café was organized for students taking a class called “Gerontological Nursing: Caring for Older Adults and their Families,” but it was open to all in the Duke community.

Neema Sharda, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Geriatrics), will discuss the aging voice as part of a daylong community workshop at the Cary Arts Center on September 7, 2019.

“Your voice is how you interact and engage with the world around you,” Sharda says. “Vocal impairments can be a real quality-of-life concern.”

Harvey Jay Cohen, MD, never planned to go into geriatrics. It wasn’t a word he heard in medical school in the 1960s. In fact, he hadn’t planned to go to medical school either. Once there, he certainly wasn’t planning to become a clinician--he just wanted to do research. Even after deciding to become a clinician-scientist, he chose hematology-oncology as his specialty. He never gave geriatrics a thought.

But life has a way of presenting opportunities, and Dr. Cohen has a way of saying yes.

As the director of a new center at Duke dedicated to interprofessional education and care, Mitch Heflin, MD, MHS, professor of medicine (Geriatrics), expects to draw on his experience as a geriatrician.

Michael Dee Gunn, MD, and Heather Whitson, MD, MHS, lead the Department of Medicine’s Research Development Council (RDC), a group dedicated to supporting investigators in the early phase of grant writing. Dr. Gunn supports basic investigators; Dr. Whitson supports clinical investigators. 

The School of Medicine has announced that Mitchell T. Heflin, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine (Geriatrics), has been named associate dean for Interprofessional Education and Care and director of the new Center for Interprofessional Education and Care, effective July 1, 2019.

Kenneth Lyles, MD, professor of medicine (Geriatrics), was recently featured in Duke Magazine's "The Devil's Share" podcast in a story about his side specialty: pound cakes.

Heather Whitson, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine (Geriatrics) and ophthalmology, will serve as the next director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Dr. Whitson will succeed Harvey Cohen, MD, the Walter Kempner Professor of Medicine and chair emeritus of the Department of Medicine.

Kathleen Cooney, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, has announced that Cathleen Colón-Emeric, MD, MHS, FACP, AGSF, will assume the role of Chief of the Division of Geriatrics, effective January 1, 2019.