Lori Pickens, is the Associate Vice President, Oncology Services for Duke University Health System, as well as Administrator and Associate Dean, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine.Previously she served as Assistant Vice President, Clinical Programs, Duke Cancer Institute. Pickens joined Duke in 2007, serving as Director of the Duke Raleigh Cancer Center and in 2009 was named Administrative Director for the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.Before coming to Duke, she served as CEO of the American Lung Association of Missouri. Pickens also served as a director for a health plan operated by BJC Health System and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.Prior to her transition into health care, Pickens spent more than 12 years working in corporate America in a variety of management capacities. She received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and her MHA from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by an administrative fellowship at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan.

Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Duke Cancer Institute and William and Jane Shingleton Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology.

As a pediatric oncologist and a cancer biologist, Kastan conducts laboratory research concentrated on DNA damage and repair, tumor suppressor genes, and causes of cancer related to genetic predisposition and environmental exposures. His discoveries have made a major impact on our understanding of both how cancers develop and how they respond to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and his publications reporting the roles of p53 and ATM in DNA damage signaling are among the most highly cited publications in the biomedical literature of the past 25 years. He has received numerous honors for his highly cited work, including election to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as well as receipt of the AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to basic cancer research. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, on the Boards of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Association of Cancer Institutes (AACI), as editor-in-chief of the journal Molecular Cancer Research, and as editor of the textbook Clinical Oncology.

Kastan earned his degrees from the Washington University School of Medicine and did his clinical training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. Before moving to Duke in 2011, Kastan was a Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics and Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University and Chair of the Hematology-Oncology department, as well as the Cancer Center Director at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. 

Paul Lindia is Vice President for Network Services at Duke University Health System (DUHS) and has been a part of the Duke University Health System for more than 27 years. Lindia oversees Duke University Health System’s clinical affiliations with community hospitals as well as the Duke LifePoint Healthcare relationship.

Prior to assuming his current role in 2001, Lindia served as chief operating officer at Duke Raleigh Hospital. He directed hospital operations and a staff of more than 800 FTEs, with an annual budget in excess of $100 million.

Lindia also served as DUHS Senior Director, Hospitals’ Operations Integration where he led the organization through restructuring initiatives including system-wide alignment of various operational departments. He led efforts to integrate major clinical and departmental systems and programs across the health system using business plans and business case reports to support the integration projects.

Lindia has also served as Assistant Chief Operating Officer for Surgical and Professional Services at Duke University Hospital. He was responsible for leading operational efforts in all areas of surgical and peri-operative services along with traditional hospital non-clinical departments.

Lindia is a graduate of Yale University and received a Master’s of Public Health in healthcare administration. He received his bachelor of science degree in business administration/accounting from Central Connecticut State University.

Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, is a doctor and an economist whose work has addressed a wide range of strategies and policy reforms to improve health care, including payment reforms to promote better outcomes and lower costs, methods for development and use of real-world evidence and approaches for more effective drug and device innovation.

McClellan is a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he developed and implemented major reforms in health policy. McClellan has served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of economics and medicine at Stanford University where he directed the Program on Health Outcomes Research.

A. Eugene Washington, MD, MPH, MSc, is Chancellor Emeritus at Duke University. An internationally renowned clinical investigator and health policy scholar, Dr. Washington has been a leader in assessing medical technologies, developing clinical practice guidelines, and establishing disease prevention policies, particularly in women’s health. The thread that runs throughout all of this work is improving quality of healthcare and eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in health outcomes. His research and numerous publications have greatly impacted the practice of medicine in prenatal genetic testing, cervical cancer screening and prevention, noncancerous uterine conditions management, and reproduction-related infections. His executive leadership has inspired academic health systems to adopt public health principles as core to their mission. His service to the nation through professional and government boards and committees has emphasized the importance of health equity and community engagement in health policy and public discourse.

Dr. Washington has held academic leadership positions and senior executive posts in three prominent academic health systems. Previously, Dr. Washington was the Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University, where he also served as President and CEO of the Duke University Health System from 2015-2023. Dr. Washington was appointed as Chancellor Emeritus in 2023. Just prior to Duke, Dr. Washington served as Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences, Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Chief Executive Officer of the UCLA Health System. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Washington served as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. There, he co-founded and directed the Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, one of the first centers of excellence conducting research on health services for minority populations. Before joining the faculty at UCSF, Dr. Washington was an epidemiologist and clinical investigator at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Dr. Washington is known as one of the most vocal proponents in the U.S. of Academic Health Systems adopting health improvement as their ultimate mission, beyond the traditional missions of research, education and patient care. At Duke University, he initiated and led the transition of Duke Medicine to Duke Health, which is today demonstratively more focused on socio-economic determinants of health and building healthy communities. At UCLA, Dr. Washington consolidated disparate and widespread projects into a comprehensive and organized community engagement entity that magnified the impact of these activities. And at UCSF, he strengthened the institution’s commitment to service by building lasting partnerships with the community and by creating alignment across the entire enterprise.

Dr. Washington has also impacted the national health and healthcare agenda through his thought leadership. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 1997 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014. He chaired the Boards of Directors of both the California HealthCare Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation, served on the Board of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and was a director of Johnson and Johnson. Dr. Washington is founding Chair of the Board of Governors of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a national research organization authorized by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.

Rhonda Brandon is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Duke University Health System.

In her role, Brandon oversees efforts to advance a world-class workforce that positions the health system to meet our long-term strategic goals. She is a key driver of our initiatives to improve performance measurement, professional development and our work culture. She offers trusted counsel to senior staff, advocating on behalf of all of our employees.

Brandon was most recently the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for BJC Healthcare in St. Louis, MO. She joined BJC Healthcare in 2006 as Vice President of Human Resources for Missouri Baptist Medical Center and was named Vice President of Operations for BJC’s Shared Services Human Resources team in 2010.

Prior to her service to BJC Healthcare, Brandon served as Vice President of Human Resources for Colonial Pipeline Company and prior to that, as Director of Human Resources and Global Information Technology for Nike. She is a cum laude graduate of Hampton University (BA, mass communications) and American University (MS, organization development.)

Kevin W. Sowers, MSN, RN, FAAN, is the President of Duke University Hospital. Sowers joined Duke University Hospital in 1985 as a staff nurse in oncology and has been in leadership roles within Duke University Health System over the last 20 years.Prior to becoming president, Sowers served as the Chief Operating Officer for Duke University Hospital from 2003 to 2009. He received his BSN from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio and his MSN from Duke University School of Nursing. Sowers is accountable for the operations of the 957-bed academic teaching hospital with over 10,000 faculty, staff and volunteers. He is responsible for driving organizational excellence and implementing the strategic plan of the organization in collaboration with the Duke Health physician group. Sowers is internationally known for his lectures and writings on the issues of leadership, organizational change, mentorship and cancer care. He is currently on the Board of Directors for University Healthcare Consortium and the Counsel of Teaching Hospitals. He is adjunct faculty at Duke University School of Nursing, Duke University Fuqua School of Business and UNC School of Public Health. He has also served in leadership roles with the American Heart Association, Susan G. Komen and a variety of leadership roles at the national level within the Oncology Nursing Society.  

Christopher Plowe is an acclaimed scientist and malariologist recognized internationally for his groundbreaking work on the molecular epidemiology of drug-resistant and "vaccine-resistant" malaria.

Prior to coming to DGHI in 2018, Dr. Plowe was the Frank M. Calia, MD Professor of Medicine and founding director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Maryland. His malaria research group at the University of Maryland oversaw research in Africa, where he helped establish field research sites in Mali and Malawi, and in Asia, where he is a frequent traveler to new field sites in Myanmar.

While much of today's research on malaria focuses on developing new drugs or vaccines that might save lives in the future, Dr. Plowe's strategy aims to save lives right now by developing new tools to help countries eliminate malaria. His team is using molecular and genomics approaches to track the emergence and spread of drug resistance and to map the "silent reservoir" of malaria parasites responsible for transmission of new infections. He is also working to develop a vaccine that will be effective against genetically diverse malaria parasites that have shown the ability to escape the effects of first generation malaria vaccines.

Dr. Plowe received his MD degree from Cornell University Medical College and his MPH at the Columbia University School of Public Health. He completed his residency at St. Luke's Hospital in and his clinical infectious diseases fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

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Edward Buckley, MD, is Vice President for Duke-NUS Affairs. He is also Vice Dean for Education at the Duke University School of Medicine, a role he has served in since 2008, and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology.

As Vice Chancellor for Duke-NUS Affairs, he has been involved with the development of the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School (Duke-NUS) education program since 2001 and currently co-chairs the Duke-NUS Academic Committee.  As Vice Dean for Education, Buckley provides administrative oversight for all of the education and degree granting programs for the School of Medicine. These include all aspects of the medical student program, Physicians Assistant Program, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Pathology Assistant Program, Clinical Research Masters degree and the Clinical Leadership Masters degree. He is also responsible for the Office of Curriculum, Financial Aid, Registrar, Admissions, Library, and the Medical School Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure process. 

Buckley is the James P. and Heather Gills Professor of Ophthalmology and the director of the pediatric ophthalmology fellowship program at Duke. He is a renowned expert in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus and has trained over 45 clinical and 10 research fellows.

Buckley has served as president of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology  and Strabismus (AAPOS), chair of the American Board of Ophthalmology, chair of the Section of Ophthalmology of the American Academy of Pediatrics, president of the American Orthoptic Society, and is the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of AAPOS. He has received the Life Time Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and AAPOS.

Buckley received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and his medical degree from Duke University. He completed an internship in medicine and a residency in ophthalmology at Duke before performing a two-year fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. He returned to Duke in 1983 as assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology.

Dexter Nolley, MEd, SPHR, is Interim Chief Human Resources Officer of Duke Raleigh Hospital.Nolley has more than 20 years of experience in human resources, including employee relations, mediation, performance management, team building, and training and development. He joined Duke Staff and Labor Relations in 2000 and most recently was Divisional Chief Human Resources Officer for Duke Primary Care.Nolley holds a bachelor of arts degree in communication from Mercer University and a master of education in counseling degree from Georgia Southern University; he is also a member of the Society for Human Resources Management.

William J. Fulkerson, Jr., MD, is professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and former Executive Vice President for Duke University Health System (DUHS). As executive vice president, he oversaw over a decade of unprecedented quality, growth and community benefit across the health system clinical enterprise.

Fulkerson is a North Carolina native and received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Fulkerson earned his MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business in 2002. 

Fulkerson has served previously as Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs for DUHS, CEO of Duke University Hospital, and Vice President of the Duke University Health System. He is a nationally recognized specialist in pulmonary and critical care medicine, and has authored/co-authored numerous books, chapters and peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Fulkerson has twice received the Eugene A. Stead Jr. Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Duke Department of Medicine. He is past Chairman of the Board of Trustees, North Carolina Hospital Association. In 2021, he was awarded The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest honor, which recognizes persons who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through their exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments.

Dr. Brian Burrows, MD, is the interim Chief Medical Officer for Duke Regional Hospital. He was appointed to this role in November, 2024.

Dr. Burrows has spent the past 14 years with Duke University Health System, most recently serving as the ED Medical Director and Chair for Duke Regional Hospital, since 2019. 

Dr. Burrows is known for his exceptional leadership, and for developing key continuous improvement initiatives. He has spearheaded numerous patient flow processes in the Emergency Department (ED), and during the COVID-19 pandemic he co-led the development and operational structure of the new Behavioral Health ED adjacent to the hospital. 

Dr. Burrows earned his medical degree from East Carolina University in 2010, and completed his residency at Duke University Medical Center in 2013.

Kristie Barazsu is an experienced healthcare executive with over 20 years of progressive leadership experience in hospital operations, patient flow, and support services. In April 2025, she was appointed President and COO of Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital after serving in the interim role during the transition of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center into Duke Health, with the completion of the hospital acquisition April 1, 2025.

Kristie most recently served as the associate chief operating officer at Duke University Hospital, overseeing Emergency Services, Patient Flow, and Support Services, including a Level 1 trauma center and Life Flight operations. She has a demonstrated history of success in driving operational efficiency, reducing labor costs, and enhancing patient care delivery. Her leadership has led to multimillion-dollar savings, improved patient throughput, and system-wide adoption of innovative operational structures. She has also played a pivotal role in pandemic response and hospital integration efforts.

Prior to Duke, Kristie held several leadership roles at Michigan Medicine, including Surgical Services Administrator and Psychiatry Hospital Services Administrator. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Management from Albion College and an MBA from Eastern Michigan University.