News

Therapies that unleash the immune system to fight tumors have greatly extended the lives of people with many types of cancer. But there are reports that patients with melanoma and lung cancer whose disease has spread to the brain may experience serious inflammatory reactions after receiving immunotherapy drugs concurrently with radiation. In a study appearing April 9 in JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis report a nearly two-fold increase in the risk of symptomatic brain inflammation, termed radiation necrosis, among patients with brain metastases receiving the immunotherapies within four weeks of a form of targeted radiation therapy called radiosurgery.

Peter Fecci, MD, PhD has accepted the position of chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at University of Colorado School of Medicine and will leave Duke at the end of June. Under Dr. Fecci’s leadership as center director, the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis (DCBSM) has been one of the fastest-growing clinical programs at Duke. With Fecci’s departure, Carey Anders, MD, will be stepping into the role of director of the DCBSM. Anders is currently the center’s co-director.

Brian Sindelar, MD, has joined the Duke Neurosurgery faculty as a member of the neurosurgery team at Duke Raleigh Hospital.

At Duke, she aims to advance translational neuroengineering and interdisciplinary collaborations to develop novel therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Duke University Health System is among Fortune’s list of America’s most innovative companies for 2025. DUHS ranks 66th overall and fifth among hospitals and health systems. The list ranks 300 U.S. companies based on product innovation, process innovation, and innovation culture.

David Hasan, MD,

In February 2025, Duke became one of the few hospitals to perform a robot-assisted ALIF. The spine procedure is minimally invasive and uses a front approach to treat spondylolisthesis -- a condition where one vertebra slips forward.

Duke is among the world’s best specialized hospitals for neurosurgery in 2025. The newest Newsweek survey ranks Duke Neurosurgery as 15th United States and 23rd in the world.

Duke Neurosurgery received $8.3 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2024 to fund research to advance science and patient care. Based on this level of funding, the department was ranked ninth among neurosurgery clinical departments in the U.S. according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

Alexa Bramall, MD, PhD, is among five Duke University School of Medicine faculty members who have been selected to receive 2025 Physician-Scientist “Strong Start” awards. The awards program, funded with a gift from the Nanaline H. Duke Fund, supports promising, early career physician-scientists at Duke as they develop independent research programs.