Division News

The Department of Medicine and the Duke Cancer Institute at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, are seeking candidates for Chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy.

Nelson Chao, MD, MBA, has served as the chief for the Division of Cellular Therapy since 1996, and for the expanded Division of Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy since 2013. At the same time, Dr. Chao also has served as leader of the Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy Research Program for the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI). 

A study led by Mitchell Horwitz, MD, professor of medicine (Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy), has found that umbilical cord blood stem cells that are cultured and expanded outside the body before being used for bone marrow transplant in adult blood cancer patients appear safe and restore blood count recovery faster than standard cord blood. The findings advance efforts to improve cord blood use among adults who have been diagnosed with blood cancers. 

​Micah A. Luftig, PhD, associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology and medicine (Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy), has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 

Congratulations to the following Department of Medicine faculty who received promotions in the first half of 2018.

The recipients of the Department of Medicine faculty Excellence in Education Awards have been announced.

Webb and LeBlanc present at the Duke Palliative Care Grand Rounds on Tuesday, June 26.

Phuong Doan, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Hematalogic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy), is not one of those physicians who always knew she wanted to do research. “I consider myself more of a late bloomer,” she says. “What shaped my decision to go into research is a combination of my interactions with patients and mentors--both accidental and intentional--that I met along the way.”

A journal article by Thomas LeBlanc, MD, associate professor of medicine (Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy), and Amy Abernethy, MD, adjunct professor of medicine (Medical Oncology), has been recognized as a paper that could "Change the World, One Article At A Time" by Springer Nature journals.

Four Department of Medicine faculty were recognized with awards at the School of Medicine's annual Spring Faculty Meeting on May 9.