News and Events

Lauren Chamberlain, DO, had always been interested in the brain, but a rotation in medical school convinced her that pediatric neurology was the field for her. Now she’s spending  a year with the Duke Neurology Department as part of her residency training. In this week’s Spotlight interview, Chamberlain talks to us about residency during the era of COVID-19, her experience as a competitive gymnast, and her plans to focus on epilepsy and sleep medicine in the future.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, in partnership with the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI), the coordinating center role for the newly established Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) network. The CREID Coordinating Center will serve as the network’s operational hub to streamline and accelerate research response to emerging infectious disease outbreaks.

Agnes Chao, MD, third year Neonatology fellow; Ben Cocanougher, MD, PL-1; Cesar Lopez Angel, MD, PL-1; and Ashley Stark, MD, PL-3 were recently invited to join the Robert J. Lefkowitz Society. 

Sameer Kamath, MD, MBBS, has been named chief medical officer for Duke Children’s Hospital and Health Center, effective September 1.

This week's Faculty Spotlight shines on Annabelle Chua, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Nephrology. Chua talks to us about how she ultimately decided on a career in medicine due to the diligent care and support her mother received following a cancer diagnosis. She talks about how her love of children drew her to pediatrics and specifically, pediatric nephrology. She describes her primary research interests and her most significant mentor, Dr. Shashi Nagaraj. She also shares some advice for trainees as well as her passions outside of work.

Translating Duke Health and the Children’s Health and Discovery Initiative are pleased to announce the four investigators selected as members of the inaugural TDH-CHDI Faculty Fellows Program. These awards will support Duke researchers in the development of R01-level grant applications to fund research that investigates early life origins of disease. 

This week's Faculty Spotlight shines on Sharla Rent, MD, medical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology. Rent talks to us about how she ultimately decided on a career in neonatology due to her love for the combination of intensive care and forming long-lasting relationships with families who are in the ICN for months. She also talks about her primary research interest in global health. Notably, she worked in Ethiopia and Ghana to explore provider perceptions of viability and decision making during newborn resuscitation. She also shares what she learned from her most significant mentor as well as her passions outside of work.

This week’s Faculty Spotlight shines on primary care specialist Rushina Cholera, MD, PhD. Cholera talks to us about how she joined Duke’s first cohort of National Clinician Scholars to experience a rigorous, mentored experience that would allow her to hone the research skill set she had developed during her PhD in epidemiology, how she became interested in pediatric primary care, her interests in the social needs of children in immigrant and refugee families, and her reflections on her relationships with her mentors, students, and patients.

New and competing renewal awards made to faculty in the Department of Pediatrics through the month of July 2020 are announced.

Agnes Chao, MD, a third year fellow in the Division of Neonatology, was recently invited to join the Robert J. Lefkowitz Society. She was also awarded the Marshall Klaus Perinatal Research Award for her work with Eric J. Benner, MD, PhD, the George W. Brumley Jr. MD Distinguished Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology, on the therapeutic potential of oxysterols in neonatal white matter injury.