The Duke Digest - August 2, 2012


In Today's Issue:
  • Sebelius Visits Duke to Announce National Initiative to Train Advanced Nurses
  • First Black Dean of Duke Chapel
  • Duke Students End US Olympic Diving Drought
  • Duke Prof Testifies on Regulation of Flame-Retardant Chemicals
  • Opinion: Ending U.S. Chimpanzee Laboratories Will Save Chimp Research
  • Duke Prof Receives Presidential Early Career Award


SEBELIUS VISITS DUKE TO ANNOUNCE NATIONAL INITIATIVE TO TRAIN ADVANCED NURSES
Duke University Hospital and Health System is among five hospitals in the country that will participate in a four-year, $200 million project by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designed to dramatically increase the number of advanced practice nurses providing primary care in underserved areas.

The ambitious initiative, announced Monday at the Duke University School of Nursing by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, will help achieve the goals of the Affordable Care Act to increase health care access, cut costs and ensure high quality by significantly expanding the number of nurses with advanced degrees who can deliver primary care.

Read More:
Duke Selected for National Effort to Train Advanced Nurses (Duke.edu)
Editorial: Nursing Project Will Improve Access to Care (Herald-Sun)


FIRST BLACK DEAN OF DUKE CHAPEL
The Reverend Dr. Luke A. Powery of Princeton Theological Seminary will become the new dean of Duke Chapel, Duke University President Richard Brodhead announced Thursday.

Powery, 38, will start his new position on Sept. 1. He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wells, who returned to England this summer to become the vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

Powery, who will be the first black dean of Duke Chapel, has taught at Princeton Theological Seminary since 2006, where he is the Perry and Georgia Engle assistant professor of homiletics. He has taught courses and lectured at numerous other educational institutions and has been a frequent guest preacher and singer at various congregations and conferences. A video of his sermon at Duke Chapel this past June 24 is available online.

Read More:
Luke Powery Named New Dean of Duke Chapel (Duke.edu)


DUKE STUDENTS END US OLYMPIC DIVING DROUGHT
After 12 years of being shut out in Olympic diving competition, the United States is back in the medal count thanks to two Duke students and their diving partners.

On successive days, Duke's Abby Johnston took silver and Nick McCrory bronze in synchronized diving competition.  The Duke students' medals were the first for the United States since 2000, and the first ever for the country in synchronized diving.

Read More:
Duke Students End US Olympic Diving Drought (Duke.edu)


DUKE PROF TESTIFIES ON REGULATION OF FLAME-RETARDANT CHEMICALS
Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, testified last week at a U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works hearing on Environmental Protection Agency oversight of flame retardants and other toxic chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Stapleton is one of the nation’s leading experts on flame retardants, particularly children’s exposures to the potentially toxic chemicals they can release.

In her congressional testimony, Stapleton presented findings from her team’s more than 40 peer-reviewed studies on PBDEs to illustrate of why policymakers need to update TSCA, the nation’s chemical safety law, which now gives the EPA authority to call for safety testing of a proprietary flame-retardant chemical only after evidence surfaces demonstrating that it is dangerous.

Read More:
Heather Stapleton Testifies on Regulation of Flame-Retardant Chemicals (Nicholas.duke.edu)
Stapleton Testimony (EPW.senate.gov)


OPINION: ENDING US CHIMPANZEE LABORATORIES WILL SAVE CHIMPANZEE RESEARCH
Brian Hare, an assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke, urges lawmakers in an opinion piece appearing in The Hill's Congress Blog to approve the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act:

I urge them to approve this bill that validates the long standing conclusions of the majority of chimpanzee researchers that non-laboratory based research will contribute most to improving human health, is more humane and promotes chimpanzee conservation.

In my area of research a collection of just five zoos and African sanctuaries recently published more scientific papers in higher impact journals than all five active U.S. chimpanzee laboratories. These non-lab researchers contributed data relevant to fighting HIV, Malaria, Parkinson’s, Autism, Alzheimer’s, and a myriad of other human ailments. They did this while studying chimpanzees that live life freely in extremely enriched environments.

Passing this bill allows the United States to join the rest of the world in banning funds for large-scale invasive experiments on chimpanzees. Better still supporting the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act will free tax dollars and promote innovation and rapid advances in human and chimpanzee health research

Read More:
Opinion: Ending U.S. Chimpanzee Laboratories Will Save Chimpanzee Research (The Hill)


DUKE PROF RECEIVES PRESIDENTIAL EARLY CAREER AWARD
Kyle S. Van Houtan, fisheries research ecologist at NOAA and adjunct associate professor at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has received a prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Van Houtan was one of 94 recipients named to the award last week by President Barack Obama. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Research by Van Houtan, who leads NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Turtle Assessment Program in Honolulu, Hawaii, has demonstrated that recent changes in the ocean environment and climate have had profound effects on sea turtle populations.

Read More:
Van Houtan Receives Presidential Early Career Award (Nicholas.duke.edu)