Life-Changing Innovation: How Duke Research is Saving Lives
Every day, Duke's research is changing people’s lives across North Carolina and around the world. Duke researchers are pioneering cancer treatments, revolutionizing pediatric heart procedures, comprehending the aging brain, and more in an effort to save lives and improve the resiliency of patients and their families. Dive into the stories about how Duke research is impacting our communities.
Groundbreaking Surgical
Robotic Liver Transplant Surgery Saves Baby
When baby Kara Pace needed a liver transplant, a friend of the family stepped up to donate part of her liver. After undergoing the first robotic liver transplant surgery at Duke Health, baby and donor are doing well.
Saving More Babies Through Innovation in Pediatric Heart Surgery
Pediatric heart surgeon Dr. Joseph Turek performed the world’s first partial heart transplant on a 17-day-old baby, integrating two arteries and valves from a donor infant.
Total Artificial Heart Gives NC Man Another Chance at Life
A Graham, N.C., man became the second person in the world to receive the device, which provides a bridge to transplant and a renewed chance at life.
Transformative Valve Transplant Saves Multiple Lives
An innovative procedure allowed a girl who received a full heart transplant to donate valves from her old heart to save the lives of two more girls.
Life-Saving Cancer
Shelley Hwang Wants Alternatives to Breast Cancer Surgery
Surgical oncologist Dr. Shelley Hwang recently presented results from a national clinical trial indicating that, in many cases of ductal carcinoma in situ, a less aggressive approach may be a safe and effective alternative to surgery.
The Many Faces of Cancer
A cancer diagnosis can be life changing for patients and their families. Here are stories of individuals who have navigated their experience at Duke Health, where researchers are working on cutting-edge cancer treatments.
Trudy Oliver: Tracking a Shapeshifting Tumor
Trudy Oliver, professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at the School of Medicine, investigates small cell lung cancer, which is almost always linked to cigarette smoking. This type of cancer has a 5-year overall survival rate of just 7%.
Breakthrough Brain
Cameron McIntyre: GPS for Neurosurgeons
Biomedical engineering professor Cameron McIntyre’s research allows doctors to see a patient’s brain in three dimensions to better perform complex operations to alleviate the tremors associated with Parkinson’s and epilepsy.
Care for the Aging Brain
Aging research has often focused on negative things like disability and frailty, says Dr. Heather Whitson, director of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Now experts are focused on helping people bounce back after stressors.
Veterans’ Care
Duke’s Collaboration with VA Hospital Provides Quality Care for Veterans
The partnership between Duke and the Durham VA offers benefits for education, research and patient care of the region’s many veterans.
Veterans with Lung Cancer Often Suffer Psychological Distress in Silence
The ‘stiff-upper-lip’ mentality, particularly among older military cohorts, and emphasis on prioritizing the unit over the individual can make it difficult for these patients to open up about their feelings.
Katherine Ramos
