Chief’s message: Memorial Day weekend
On this Memorial Day, we pause to honor the brave men and women who gave everything in service to our country — their sacrifice is the foundation of the freedoms we hold dear. This is especially poignant in this 250th year of our Independence. At Duke Heart, we are reminded daily of the spirit of service in the dedicated physicians, nurses, technicians, and staff who show up without hesitation for their patients, often in the most critical moments of their lives. To our veterans and active military — we are forever grateful. To our Duke Heart family — your courage, compassion, and commitment reflect the very best of what it means to serve our community. We are honored to stand alongside all of you.
This weekend we also had many past faculty and fellows in town to remember one of Duke Heart’s own — Dr. Jess Peter — a physician, mentor, and cultural cornerstone of this institution who embodied service in every sense of the word. Jess built the kind of presence that made everyone around him better. He built the acute MI program at Duke from the ground up, saving lives that might otherwise have been lost, and he shaped generations of fellows not just in technique but in character — teaching them that excellence and humility belong together, that a cath lab runs on trust as much as skill, and that you should never take yourself so seriously that you lose the ability to laugh. The memorial had great stories from both family and duke cardiology and the picture of his life. He loved his family deeply, and left behind a culture of curiosity, teamwork, and genuine care for patients that lives in every person who trained under him. Both on Friday and in cath cases this weekend – I have personal seen the legacy of Jess Peter in action in our cath lab in our actions, perseverance, and ways our faculty and fellows think about interventional care. His memory is a blessing.
Finally – please find some photos here of our DCRI fellow graduation where we continue the tradition of shaping and teaching the next generation of leaders. In the upcoming weeks we will be sharing more graduation and accomplishments of our fellows, residents, and faculty across the service line.
Highlights of the week:
Life of Dr. Jess Peter Celebrated
A Celebration of Life in memory of Dr. Jess Peter was held on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at The Washington Duke Inn. Several hundred people were in attendance including many generations of Duke Cardiology faculty and past fellows. We want to specifically appreciate both Mary Ann Peter and her amazing family, and Dr. Michael Sketch for his support of the Peter family and helping to arrange and MC the event.
The event began with an opening prayer. Speakers included Dr. Michael Sketch, Professor Emeritus of Medicine in Cardiology at Duke; Dr. Christopher O’Connor, President, Inova Schar Heart and Vascular; Dr. David Kandzari, Chief of the Piedmont Heart Institute and Chief Scientific Officer for Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; Dr. Sunil Rao, Director, Interventional Cardiology at NYU Langone, and Dr. Manesh Patel, Chief, Division of Cardiology at Duke and president-elect of the American Heart Association for 2025-26. Dr. Patel also delivered remarks on behalf of the Dean of the School of Medicine, Dr. Mary E. Klotman, and spoke of his own memories of Jess.
Dr. Peter was greatly beloved by many at Duke and beyond. We extend our deepest sympathy — and our gratitude — to Mary Ann, their family, friends, and colleagues.
Celebrating Research at Duke Health
A few events were held this week and are planned for next week to celebrate research efforts at Duke.
The Durham City Council, at its May 18, 2026, meeting, proclaimed May 20 as Clinical Trials Day in Durham. You can see the proclamation read by Matt Kopac, Ward 1 Council Member, in this video. Representatives from across the region’s research and education community attended the meeting, including the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Chapter, Durham Technical Community College, North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Durham Early College for Health Sciences, as well as Duke Health, the Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), and the Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR). Willette Wilkins, chief strategy officer, and Matthew Healy, chief operating officer, attended the meeting on behalf of the DCRI.
Clinical Trials Day is officially organized and promoted by the ACRP as an opportunity to pause in reflection, recognition, and admiration of all that has been accomplished thanks to clinical trials and the people behind them. It is celebrated annually on May 20.
This year’s theme is Research Rising, capturing the momentum, ambition, and unwavering commitment we bring to our shared mission of advancing medicine and improving patient care.
The Duke Heart Center Clinical Research Unit celebrated together – part of the team is shown here. If you are interested in learning more about currently enrolling research studies, please check out their Qualtrics site: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1FFwh9RacXQ5feK. There, you can find research studies by therapeutic areas that are currently available to patients. Included are brief descriptions of the study and the name of the principal investigator.
Coming up next week, the Duke School of Medicine is holding the inaugural CTSI and DCRI symposia, Trustworthy Translation – Stories of Today, Visions of Tomorrow. This event takes place on Tuesday, May 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Trent Semans Center for Health Education at Duke. The keynote speaker will be cardiologist Dr. Robert Califf, founding director of the DCRI and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. More information can be found here.
Also, next week, Duke Medicine Grand Rounds holds its 2026 Resident Research Day on Friday, May 29, at 8 a.m., featuring presentations by the 2026 Califf Resident Research Award recipients Daniel Bujnowski, MD; Morgan Nakatani, MD; and Roshini Srinivasan, MD.
Please join us in celebrating research at Duke!
Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities
May is Celebrating Each Other Month at Duke Health. Thank you for all you do!
June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange
Cardiology Grand Rounds
May 26: How Much Scar is Too Much? Scar Burden and Adverse Outcomes in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy with Damarcus Ingram, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.
June 9: From Predictive Analytics to a Learning Health System with Anthony Lin, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.
All Duke CGR Recordings (except for those containing PHI) can be found on Duke Warpwire by year: 2026, 2025, 2024. Questions about recordings? Contact Tracey Koepke.
CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference
May 27: EP Case Conference with Vincent Delgado and Nishkala Shivakumar. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.
May 29: EP Case Conference with Yoo Jin Kim and Rebecca Steinberg. Noon, Zoom only.
MMCVI Grand Rounds
Multi-Modality Cardiovascular Imaging Grand Rounds: A multi-imaging approach to cardiovascular disease cases. Thursdays, Noon to 1 p.m., via Zoom.
May 28: HFpEF Imaging Modalities with Rebecca/Harriet
June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi
June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal
June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi
June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi
Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Seminar Series
May 27: G-Protein Coupled Receptors with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz. Noon, Auditorium of the Nanaline Duke Building, Duke University. Sponsored by Duke Cardiovascular Research Center and the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation.
State of the School Address, June 10
The annual Duke University School of Medicine State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.
At this year’s address, Mary E. Klotman, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Duke University SOM, will explore how the School of Medicine community is harnessing artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery, enhance education, improve patient care, and strengthen partnerships, all while keeping our people at the center of everything we do.
All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited to attend. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.
Please join us if you can!
2026 Symposia
The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.
- June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
- September 26: Duke Case-Based Multimodality Imaging Symposium – Course directors are Sreekanth Vemulapalli and Anita Kelsey. Location: Trent Semans Center, Great Hall.
- October 30: 18th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Vascular Symposium – Course directors are Terry Fortin, Sudar Rajagopal, and Jimmy Ford. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
Please save the dates!
Hitting with Heart Softball Tournament
The 10th Annual Hitting with Heart Softball tournament will be held on Saturday, August 22 at Valley Springs Park, 3805 Valley Springs Road, in Durham. The tournament raises funds that will, in part, support the American Heart Association’s 2026 Triangle Heart Walk.
Have news to share?
If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart & Vascular at tracey.koepke@duke.edu. We would love to hear about your latest accomplishments, professional news, cool happenings, and any events or opportunities that may be of interest to our team. Please call me with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged. Submissions by Noon on Wednesdays will be considered for weekend inclusion.
