Congratulations to two Duke Pediatrics faculty for receiving the 2025 Physician-Scientist “Strong Start” awards from Duke University School of Medicine. The awards program, funded with a gift from the Nanaline H. Duke Fund, supports promising, early career physician-scientists at Duke as they develop independent research programs.
Each recipient will receive $120,000 annually for three years to support their research programs. Since 2017, 46 faculty have received Strong Start awards.
Lauren Covert, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Rheumatology and an early career physician-scientist focused on juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) research. Her proposal is entitled "Using bioengineered human muscle to understand disease-driving mechanisms in juvenile dermatomyositis." The work aims to elucidate downstream effects and upstream drivers of type I interferons, which are highly upregulated in JDM. Dr. Covert will use a novel human muscle model in order to understand disease mechanisms and accelerate identification of potential therapeutic avenues for JDM.
Danielle Mebuge, MD, is a newly appointed assistant professor of Pediatrics in the division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. She is a research track faculty under the mentorship of esteemed translational gastroenterologist, Dr. Katie Garman. The formal title of her awarded research proposal is: "Molecular approaches to host and bacterial pathogenesis in pediatric H. pylori infection". Dr. Mebuge's work seeks to uncover biological mechanisms driving disparities in pediatric H. pylori infection and future malignant transformation into gastric cancer.