Division News

The Duke Human Vaccine Institute’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit has been awarded a $5 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to support further research on Valley Fever Pneumonia.

Valley Fever Pneumonia is caused by the fungal pathogens Coccidioides posadasii and Coccidioides immitis, which primarily live in soil. Valley Fever is endemic in certain parts of the southwestern United States, including Arizona and California.

John Perfect, MD, professor of medicine and chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is being honored by two organizations for his scientific contributions  to the field of mycology. 

Ephraim Tsalik, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Duke Medicine have determined that kidney function plays a critical role in the fate of patients being treated for sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. 

At the School of Medicine's Spring Faculty Meeting on May 5, the following Medicine faculty were honored with awards:

Michael Blazing, MD, associate professor of medicine (Cardiology), received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, which recognizes compassion and sensitivity in the delivery of healthcare.

The Medical Center Library & Archives will host a talk by John D. Hamilton, MD, professor emeritus of medicine (Infectious Diseases), at noon on May 14.

Dr. Hamilton will present "The History of Infectious Diseases at Duke in the 20th Century," based on his recently published book.

Wendy Prudhomme-O'Meara, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases) and global health, has received a supplemental award through Duke Translational Research. The award will provide supplemental funding for the project "Novel mHealth platform to ensure quality of community-based malaria diagnosis."

The research evaluates an innovative public-private partnership in Kenya using trained community health workers to target malarial medicines to those with confirmed malaria infection.

John Hamilton, MD, professor emeritus of medicine (Infectious Diseases), has recently published his book "The History of Infectious Diseases at Duke in the Twentieth Century."

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a research program project grant to Mary Klotman, MD, professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases). The award will last five years, and will total more than $9 million.

The program project, "Integrase Defective Lentiviral Vector (IDLV)-ENV Immunogen Strategy for an HIV Vaccine," is supported by the National Institute Of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under award number P01AI110485.

Three of the nation’s largest philanthropies – the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Simons Foundation – have announced a new partnership to provide much needed research support to outstanding early-career scientists in the United States.

Through the new Faculty Scholars Program, the philanthropies will invest a total of $148 million in research support over the program’s first five years.

Mary Klotman, MD, chair of the department, and Scott Palmer, MD, MHS, vice chair for research, announced the recipients of the 2015 Chair’s Research Award, and the newly created K-bridge funding program. Both awards fund junior investigators who are making the transition to becoming independent scientists prior to their acquisition of extramural funding.