Duke University Medical Center
Part of a Solution to the Nation's Medical Needs
Every gift to Duke University Medical Center reaches beyond specific
facilities, programs, or people to strengthen patient care, medical
research, and the education of the next generation of leaders in
medicine, nursing, and science.
 Lauren Taylor
and
Ben Moeller
at the McGovern-Davison Children’s Health Center.
Duke Medicine
Campaign Total: $706,484,283
Duke University Medical Center funded
a host of research needs and programs in areas of world importance.
It established 36 professorships, five associate and assistant
professorships, and many new scholarships; it inaugurated
a new bachelor of science in nursing program. Built were the
McGovern-Davison Children’s Health Center and new research
buildings; planned or started with significant funding are
the Albert Eye Institute and the Duke Center for Integrative
Medicine. |
When Lauren Taylor N’03 interned at a hospital during her
senior year at Elon University, she decided to become a nurse. Although
she was admitted to another top nursing program, Taylor was thrilled
to join the inaugural class of Duke’s Accelerated Bachelor
of Science in Nursing Program. Established with a gift from the
Helene Fuld Health Trust to help address the national shortage of
nurses, Duke’s BSN program prepares people with bachelor’s
degrees, many from established careers, to enter the nursing profession
in just 16 months.
The program requires over 1,000 clinical hours and includes graduate-level
courses with experts from throughout the medical center. “Duke
is really preparing us to become nursing leaders who think critically
about patient care and work to improve nursing as a profession,”
Taylor says. She entered the program interested in labor and delivery
nursing, but is now considering graduate study in pediatric oncology.
Initially she was nervous about the pace of the program, but now
feels “this is definitely a place where a budding nurse wants
to be.”
For MIT graduate Ben Moeller M’04, G’06, “what
made Duke stand out among excellent medical schools was its unique
curriculum. The traditional medical school program requires two
years of basic science classes before you get into the hospital.
At Duke you get into the hospital in your second year—which
is an incentive in itself—and you can use the third year to
pursue a research project or a second degree.” As a result,
Duke students have a great advantage when applying for top residency
spots. Many enroll in joint JD or MBA programs, while others, like
Moeller, seek a mentor and enter a lab before beginning advanced
clinical rotations in their fourth year.
Moeller entered the radiation oncology lab of Professor Mark Dewhirst
to study ways to enhance radiation’s destruction of tumor
blood vessels. “If we can keep tumors from growing blood vessels,”
Moeller explains, “the hope is that tumors couldn’t
continue to grow.” His research has been funded by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute.
The medical faculty encouraged Moeller to continue his research
in Duke’s Medical Scientist Training Program, which has graduated
more MD/PhD students than any other program and trains physician-scientists
“on translating the findings in basic science labs into results
they can really bring to the bedside.” After he finishes his
residency, Moeller would like to practice in an academic hospital.
Like Lauren Taylor, he intends to be part of a solution to the nation’s
medical needs.
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