Friday, November 16, 2007

New director for one of the key programs at Duke-NUS
by Kelly Winget, DCRI Communications

The Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore continues to recruit international leaders for its four signature research programs as it works towards becoming a leader in the biomedical industry.

Duane Gubler, Sc.D., a renowned international leader in his field, was recently named the new director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases program at Duke-NUS. He most recently served as the director of Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine & Infectious Disease at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Dr. Gubler will work with partner institutions in Singapore and around the world to establish Duke-NUS as the premier research center for new infectious diseases in Asia . Dr. Gubler will oversee clinical, field epidemiologic and translational research, as well as a training program that aims to recruit some of the best graduate students in the world.

“We are excited about Dr. Gubler's vision to make Singapore the global center of excellence for research and training for infectious diseases of the Asia-Pacific region,” said R. Sanders Williams, MD, in a press release announcing Dr. Gubler's position. Williams is the dean of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Duke University Health System.

Dr. Grubler will create a regional reference and research center which will provide services similar to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Several other countries will house laboratory facilities that can aid in pathogen discovery, disease detection and training.

The Emerging Infectious Diseases program will focus on identifying new pathogens that have the potential to become epidemic diseases. The goal is to prevent future SARS-like breakouts, and to develop new ways to diagnose and treat these diseases.

Dr Gubler oversaw the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases for three years. Prior to that, he was director of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases for 15 years.

The Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, established in 2005, is a collaboration between the Duke University School of Medicine and the National University of Singapore. The program focuses on Duke's unique education model, where an entire academic year is spent on research projects.