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tuesDAY, october 1, 2013 | 5
Applicants wanted for Duke Endowment reveals Regional Hospital president student Resiliency Project by Rachel Clark The Chronicle
Special to the Chronicle
Kerry Watson leaves his position as president of Duke Regional Hospital, after being part of the Duke University Health System for 10 years.
by Jen Chen
The Chronicle
Duke Regional Hospital is in the process of finding a new president following the departure of former President Kerry Watson. After holding leadership positions within the Duke University Health System for the past 10 years, Watson will begin his term as president of NewtonWellesley hospital in Newton, Mass. today Mary Kate Llamas, a spokeswoman for Duke Regional, said Watson’s last day at Duke Regional was this Friday. Katie Galbraith, former vice president of Duke Regional, has taken on the role of interim president and will remain in the position until a new president is found. “Kerry was an exceptional leader for Duke Regional and we are excited for him as he takes on this great new opportunity,” Llamas wrote in an email Monday. Prior to serving as president of Duke Regional, Watson was the senior associate operating officer at Duke Medicine and the chief executive officer of Duke Regional. A new president for Duke Regional has not been chosen, but a selection committee of approximately 12 individuals will conduct the search process for a new president, said Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of DUHS. Dzau said the members of the committee are currently being finalized. “This presidential search will be a combined effort between Duke University Health System and Duke Regional Hospital,” Dzau said. Anyone in the United States can apply for the position and a small number of qualified candidates will be selected for an interview, Dzau said. Dzau will
make the final selection with Dr. William Fulkerson, executive vice president of DUHS. Despite repeated attempts for comment, Watson could not be reached in time for publication. Galbraith said she originally planned to stay at Duke Regional for only a couple of years, but chose to stay because she enjoyed working with the dedicated employees at the hospital “I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to serve as interim president and provide leadership for our team during this transition,” she said. As interim president, I see my role as supporting our physicians, employees and volunteers to continue to provide the best possible care to every patient every day.” Duke Regional—which was previously known as Durham Regional Hospital until this January—has been managed by DUHS since a partnership agreement in 1998. This past summer, it was ranked the third best hospital in the Triangle and the fourth best hospital out of the roughly 147 facilities in North Carolina by the U.S. News and World Report. “We have an incredible team of dedicated employees, physicians and volunteers who live our core value—caring for our patients, their loved ones and each other—day in and day out,” Galbraith said. “Our vision as a hospital is to be the best community hospital in North Carolina.” Llamas said she is confident in Galbraith’s abilities to lead the hospital during the interim period. “Our entire organization has relied on Katie’s knowledge and expertise for years and knows she is an exceptional leader,” Llamas noted.
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Trustees of the Charlotte-based Duke Endowment approved a $3.4 million dollar grant for the Student Resiliency Project, which will research how four college campuses can help students cope with stressful circumstances. The four-year grant will allow researchers to look at ways campuses can build resiliency—which the project defines as the ability for students to work through adverse situations. The researchers will look at resiliency at Duke, Johnson C. Smith University, Davidson College and Furman University. “We all deal with stress… some better than others. Through this project we hope to better understand why some students cope well and others don’t,” Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an email Monday. Faculty, practitioners and students from all four institutions will be participating in the project. The research will be overseen by Tim Strauman—professor of psychology and neuroscience— and Molly Weeks—a psychology and neuroscience postdoctoral associate. Individual research teams at each university will conduct their own projects or activities as well. “A steering committee made up of staff and faculty of all four schools will develop the formal budget,” Moneta said. “Most of the research funds will come to Duke since we’ll be coordinating the research aspect for all four schools.” The stress level of college students is increasing due to economic burdens and the growing pressure for students to lead and innovate, said Tom Shandley, vice president for student life and dean of students. “The uncertain future created by the economic downturn has created more anxiety for some students than in past generations,” Shandley wrote in an email Monday. “When you add the additional burden of college affordability,
student debt and the reality of having to make loan payments with the above, that is indeed a pressure felt.” In the first year of the project, campus leaders will design the research model, which will include opportunities for students, faculty and practitioners to work together, said Susan McConnell, director of the higher education and director of human resources at the Duke Endowment. The second year will incorporate data collection and analysis as the project tries to identify key sources of stress among the colleges. In the third year, there will be a pilot intervention in student resiliency and an assessment of its effectiveness, and in the fourth year each campus will develop its own program to enhance student resiliency at school, McConnell added. “The Trustees of the Duke Endowment saw this as a chance for these four schools to work together on an important issue,” McConnell wrote in an email Monday. “We expect the research coming from this project will add to the field and lead to interventions focused on student well-being.” By working with a diverse array of educational facilities the organization hopes to identify key factors that will encourage resiliency in the four schools, which can then be applied to other schools throughout the United States. As part of the Resiliency Project, there will be a three-year summer research initiative at Davidson. Two student representatives from each of the schools in the program will develop model and strategies to cope with stress each summer. “It is my hope that we will learn more about... what, if anything, a college or university can do to help,” Shandley said. “Whether that help comes from inside the classroom or in residence, environmental influences should matter and I expect that we will learn what can be done to promote student resiliency on our respective campuses.”