Research, ventures, and the people moving Duke innovation forward.
85°FResearch, ventures, and the people moving Duke innovation forward.
Ventures
Upswing co-founder and CEO Melvin Hines, a Duke JD/MBA alum, returned to campus to let Executive MBA students dissect a case study of his edtech startup's toughest choices, sharing lessons on funding, hiring, and building a company without personal wealth.
Ventures
Upswing co-founder and CEO Melvin Hines, a Duke JD/MBA alum, returned to campus to let Executive MBA students dissect a case study of his edtech startup's toughest choices, sharing lessons on funding, hiring, and building a company without personal wealth.
Ventures
Upswing co-founder and CEO Melvin Hines, a Duke JD/MBA alum, returned to campus to let Executive MBA students dissect a case study of his edtech startup's toughest choices, sharing lessons on funding, hiring, and building a company without personal wealth.
Upswing co-founder and CEO Melvin Hines, a Duke JD/MBA alum, returned to campus to let Executive MBA students dissect a case study of his edtech startup's toughest choices, sharing lessons on funding, hiring, and building a company without personal wealth.
Hannah Wilen (Pratt '20, Fuqua '22) co-founded Capd Period and bootstrapped a menstrual cup designed to be emptied without removal, winning the 2023 Westly Prize's $40,000 award earmarked for distributing 10,000 cups in Uganda.
John Antonelli, a 2023 Duke computer science graduate and participant in Duke's Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs program, co-founded the fan-engagement app Real with his brothers. The platform peaked at 1 million daily active users during Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, capping growth from 9,000 monthly users in late 2021.
Zack Weaver and Victoria Goldenshtein, the first PhD students in Duke's Tadross Lab, co-founded the Research Triangle Park chapter of Nucleate in 2021 to support early-stage life-science entrepreneurs; the chapter remains active in 2026 with ongoing programming and industry partnerships.
Duke class of 2023 alum Snehal Verma co-founded NatureDots in December 2019 to help fish farmers combat climate-driven water quality losses using sensor hardware and machine learning; the venture now has a 22-person team and more than 20 international awards.
Duke PhD graduate Ammara Aqeel adapted ecological DNA metabarcoding to track children's diets from stool samples, won $6,500 in a Duke accelerator, and filed an invention disclosure for a diet-tracking tool aimed at dietitians before completing her degree in May 2025.
People
A Duke University School of Medicine study published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that a noninvasive retinal scan performed on very preterm infants in the NICU can predict cognitive, motor, and behavioral outcomes at age 2, potentially enabling earlier intervention for developmental delays.
Ventures
View MoreUpswing co-founder and CEO Melvin Hines, a Duke JD/MBA alum, returned to campus to let Executive MBA students dissect a case study of his edtech startup's toughest choices, sharing lessons on funding, hiring, and building a company without personal wealth.
Ventures
View MoreHannah Wilen (Pratt '20, Fuqua '22) co-founded Capd Period and bootstrapped a menstrual cup designed to be emptied without removal, winning the 2023 Westly Prize's $40,000 award earmarked for distributing 10,000 cups in Uganda.
Ventures
View MoreJohn Antonelli, a 2023 Duke computer science graduate and participant in Duke's Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs program, co-founded the fan-engagement app Real with his brothers. The platform peaked at 1 million daily active users during Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, capping growth from 9,000 monthly users in late 2021.
Ventures
View MoreDuke class of 2023 alum Snehal Verma co-founded NatureDots in December 2019 to help fish farmers combat climate-driven water quality losses using sensor hardware and machine learning; the venture now has a 22-person team and more than 20 international awards.
Ventures
View MoreA May 20 conversation between Duke faculty researcher Rana Gupta and Dean Mary Klotman highlights the university's growing effort to link metabolic aging research with next-generation GLP-1 therapies, including collaborations with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Innovators
View MoreZack Weaver and Victoria Goldenshtein, the first PhD students in Duke's Tadross Lab, co-founded the Research Triangle Park chapter of Nucleate in 2021 to support early-stage life-science entrepreneurs; the chapter remains active in 2026 with ongoing programming and industry partnerships.
Innovators
View MoreDuke PhD graduate Ammara Aqeel adapted ecological DNA metabarcoding to track children's diets from stool samples, won $6,500 in a Duke accelerator, and filed an invention disclosure for a diet-tracking tool aimed at dietitians before completing her degree in May 2025.
Innovators
View MoreFive Duke School of Medicine faculty have each been awarded $120,000 per year for three years through the 2026 Physician-Scientist Strong Start program, the first cohort funded under the Nanaline H. Duke Fund's expanded $11.45 million commitment.
Innovators
View MoreJ. Lloyd Michener, MD, a Duke University School of Medicine professor emeritus who chaired the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health for 22 years, has established the Michener Family Community Health Fund with a personal gift to deepen partnerships between Duke Health and the Durham community.
Impact
View MoreDuke University's Climate and Health Research Initiative, backed by a $4.5 million Duke Endowment award, is funding cross-disciplinary research on extreme heat's health and environmental impacts, with projects spanning farm worker kidney disease, urban temperature monitoring gaps, and coral reef resilience.
Impact
View MoreDuke alumna Nancy Schlichting and her wife Pam Theisen have made a $250,000 gift to establish the Nursing Innovation Fund at Duke Health, empowering nurses to develop and scale new care models across the health system.
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©2026 Duke Innovation Digest
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©2026 Duke Innovation Digest
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