Members of the Duke Neurology Department shared their advances and insights in neurology education, health disparities, movement disorders, and other areas at the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) 75th annual meeting in Boston this week. This year, our faculty, staff, and trainees contributed more to the AAN than in any previous year, contributing to 20 posters and abstracts and six classes or sessions.

This March, new research from members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced our missions of patient care, translational and clinical research, and neurology training, contributing to 16 new peer-reviewed journal articles.

Marjorie Soltis, MD, came to Duke in 2016 as a resident, after her neuroscience class and time working with Parkinson’s patient convinced her to pursue neurology. One residency and fellowship later, Soltis is a sleep medicine specialist and a member of our faculty. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Soltis shares her experience helping patients with sleep disorders and reflects on what she gained from our residency and fellowship programs.

The Duke Neurology Department has released its selections for its residency class of 2027. Our next class of residents will consist of:

Megumi Sugita, DO, was first drawn to the brain during her neuroanatomy class, when she learned about the many intricate functions performed by the mammalian brain. Now, as a Junior Assistant (PGY-2) Resident within the Duke Neurology Department, Sugita is getting firsthand experience interacting with patients with stroke, brain tumors, and other conditions within Duke University Hospital. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Sugita talks to us about her PGY-2 year so far and her plans for a neuro-immunology fellowship after her residency.

Winning the North Carolina Neurological Society's (NCNS) first NeuroBowl trivia contest was just the start for members of the Duke Neurology Department at the NCNS' 2023 annual meeting in Pinehurst, NC, this weekend.

The world's top stroke and brain health scientists, including members of the Duke Neurology Department, are gathering in Dallas today for the start of the 2023 International Stroke Conference. This year our faculty, trainees, and Duke University medical students specializing in neurology are contributing to the following 19 presentations, abstracts, and posters.

Oral Presentations

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.

Our final “spotlight” of 2022 shines on Chief Resident Jung Hyun Ko, MD, MPH. Ko talks to us about becoming interested in the brain while learning how billions of neurons work together in a predictive manner to allow us to think, move, and speak. He also shares his plan for a future doing clinical and working as a neurohospitalist, how his background in epidemiology informs his perspective as a clinician, and enjoying music, video games, and time with family when he’s not at Duke.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced the field of epilepsy care, research, and education at the 2022 meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) in Nashville this week. This year, our faculty and trainees gave two lectures and co-authored eight new abstracts, for a total of more than 150 submissions from Duke to the AES since 2000.