News

Today is National Women Physician’s Day. This day was marked to honor the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman allowed to enter medical school in the United States. Despite being forced to sit in separately in lectures, being excluded from labs, and facing other forms of discrimination Blackwell graduated first in her class in 1849, and went on to a long and distinguished career, improving physician handwashing, opening the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, and training nurses for Union hospitals during the Civil War.

The final month of 2022 saw the release of 12 new peer-reviewed journal articles written or co-written by members of the Duke Neurology Department. Highlights of our most recent publications include an evaluation of a training program designed to improve the delivery of epilepsy care in Uganda, a review of recent advances in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, and a discussion of treatment options for the autoimmune condition known as neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).

The Duke Neurology Department continued to build on its success in the second half of 2022. The final six months of 2022 saw Duke University Hospital receive national rankings for neurology and neurosurgery, our first endowed professorship dedicated to help treat and understand amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and recognition as the country’s second national center of excellence for dystonia among other achievements.

The Duke Neurology Department continued to grow and advance its missions of patient care, research, and training the next generation of neurology providers in 2022. Highlights from the first half of our calendar year include national and Duke-wide awards recognizing our faculty’s contributions to the field of diversity, inclusion, and neurology as a whole. The same period also saw the growth of the new Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and three of our neurologists don helmets and get in their racing care.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced the fields of clinical and translational neuroscience this November, contributing to 16 new peer-reviewed studies.

For almost eight years, Debbie Dahnke, RN, worked in the Duke University Hospital’s neuro step down unit, helping some of the most intensely injured patients in DUH transition from neurocritical care to the next stage of their medical journey. Now as one of our research nurse coordinators, she’s helping to enroll and care for patients involved in our clinical trials for multiple sclerosis (MS) and status epilepticus. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Dahnke talks to us about how a friend with MS inspired her to become a nurse.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 12 new peer-reviewed journal articles published this August. Highlights include a review article examining evoked potentials used for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s, the healthcare received by veterans with epilepsy, the optimal stroke treatments for patients with cerebral venous thrombosis, and other topics.

Danelvis Paredes, MD, MPH, felt her first callings to neurology at the age of 15, when she learned about the neurobiology of drug addiction while working at a college laboratory. Later, that interest was cemented after she saw how a neurology exam could elegantly and quickly localize patients’ problems. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Paredes talks to us about her day-to-day life as a chief resident and how her master’s in public health influences her perspective as a clinician.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke University Hospital as the top hospital in North Carolina and the 23rd best across the nation for neurology and neurosurgery in its 2022-2023 hospital rankings. The annual rankings, which assessed more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide, analyze and integrate dozens of medical and surgical services.

Amanda Cotton, RN, has two roles helping patients at Duke with multiple sclerosis (MS). Cotton helps newly diagnosed patients understand the disease and how they can find a way to live fulfilling lives with the condition. Cotton also helps returning patients receive the therapies that best meet their needs.