Three to Receive University Medals During Centennial Founders’ Weekend

A complete list of previous University Medal recipients is available on the University Archives website.

Robert Califf

An esteemed cardiologist and prominent leader in public health and clinical science, Robert “Rob” Califf is commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Califf completed both his undergraduate degree in psychology and medical degree at Duke. Prior to joining the FDA in 2015, he spent more than 30 years as a practicing cardiologist, researcher and administrator at Duke.

He was founding director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), which today is the world’s largest academic clinical research organization and a leader in impactful clinical trials in medicine.

In 2006, Califf was named vice chancellor for clinical and translational research, a position he held until he was named deputy commissioner of the FDA in 2015. Seven months later, former President Barack Obama nominated Califf to serve as FDA Commissioner, a position he held until 2017.

Califf then returned to Duke as professor of medicine and vice chancellor for health data science, and founded and directed Duke Forge, a multi-disciplinary center for actionable health data science, before joining Alphabet, Inc., in 2019 as head of medical strategy and senior advisor.

In November 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Califf to once again serve as FDA Commissioner.

Califf is also a Duke parent; his son Tom graduated from the university in 2006.

Fred Stanback

Fred Stanback’s ties to Duke are numerous and longstanding. He graduated from Duke with a degree in business administration in 1950 and is married to Duke alumna Alice Stanback. Fred and Alice are the proud parents of three Duke graduates and grandparents of three more.

Stanback earned his MBA at Columbia, and in 1952 joined the Stanback Company, a family-owned developer of headache powder, where he would spend his career before retiring as chairman and treasurer.

Throughout his life, Stanback has devoted himself to public service, philanthropy and environmental causes, with a particular focus on impactful initiatives in his home state of North Carolina. In 2008, he and Alice were awarded the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor.  

Stanback has been a dedicated supporter and advisor to many areas within Duke,  including the Duke Cancer Center, Duke Marine Lab, and the Nicholas School of the Environment. He has also provided philanthropic support for environmental law and policy initiatives at Duke Law and Alzheimer’s research at Duke Health. In 2015, The Nicholas School of the Environment Deanship was named after Fred and Alice Stanback.

In 2020, the Duke Cancer Center presented Stanback with its William W. Shingleton Lifetime Achievement Award.

Beyond Duke, he established the Fred Stanback Jr. Ecological Preserve at Catawba College, a preserve that is managed by Catawba College and functions as a living classroom and laboratory.

William Turner, Jr.

Since his days as a Duke student, when he made history in 1966 as one of the first two Black student-athletes to join the Duke football team, William “Bill” Turner, Jr. has been a prominent campus civil rights leader, advocate and educator dedicated to improving the experiences of Black students

On April 4, 1968, Turner learned of the assassination of civil rights icon Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. while returning to his residence hall from a physics exam. In response, Duke students organized what became known as the Silent Vigil. In the coming days, Turner joined the more than 1,400 fellow students who camped in front of Duke Chapel as they advocated for more attention to issues affecting the Black community, including better pay for Duke’s hourly employees.

In total, Turner would spend more than 50 years at Duke, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, master’s in divinity and doctorate in religion, and has served the university as assistant provost and Dean of Black Affairs, acting director of the African and African American Studies Department and director of the Office of Black Church Affairs.

Turner taught theology at Duke Divinity School and was the James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of the Practice of Preaching at the time of his retirement in 2018. He is married to Joyce Rivers, and together they are the proud parents of four adult children and six grandchildren. Turner has served several churches in North Carolina, and continues to pastor The Mount Level Baptist Church in Durham.