Rein, DeVito, Receive SoM Strong Start Awards
By: Julie Poucher Harbin, Senior Writer, DCI
Four faculty members in total were selected to receive the awards, which support promising, early career physician-scientists at Duke as they develop independent research programs. Each recipient will receive $75,000 annually for three years to support their research programs. Since 2017, 31 faculty have been awarded a total of $6 million.
The Strong Start program, funded by supported a gift from the Nanaline H. Duke Fund, is administered by the School of Medicine’s Office for Physician-Scientist Development (OPSD) and integrates with other physician-scientist development programs including the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD-PhD students) and the Lefkowitz Society (clinical residents and fellows).
Nicholas DeVito, MD, is a medical instructor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, and a gastrointestinal medical oncologist.
A member of The Hanks Lab, his basic science and translational research focuses on metastatic mechanisms and how they influence tumor immune evasion during disease progression, particularly antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells.
His interests are in tumor immunology and developmental immunotherapeutics in gastrointestinal malignancies including gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bile duct cancer, esophageal cancer, and liver cancer.
DeVito earned his MD at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in 2012 and completed an Internal Medicine residency at Tufts Medical Center in 2015 before joining Duke as a Hematology/Oncology fellow in 2015 and joining the faculty in 2018.
Lindsay Rein, MD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy, and a hematologic oncologist who specializes in treating myeloproliferative neoplasms. She runs a research lab — The Rein Lab — focused on targeting β-arrestins in myeloid malignancies and central nervous system (CNS) metastasis. [Myeloid malignancies include chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and other myeloproliferative neoplasms; myelodysplastic syndromes; and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).]
Rein came to Duke as an Internal Medicine resident in 2011 after earning her MD at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 2008. After completing her fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in 2014, she joined the faculty as a medical instructor in 2014 and was promoted to assistant professor in 2018.
