Dr. Felicia Pagliuca, who conducted research in Dr. Joe Heitman's lab as a Duke undergraduate, has joined the Duke School of Medicine Board of Visitors.
By the time she graduated from Duke in 2007, Pagliuca had published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, including two as first author and one in the journal Nature as a coauthor. One of the publications featured her research with a photograph on the cover. “It’s a beautiful image,” Heitman said. “It’s a micrograph of a mutant fungus.”
Today, Pagliuca is the vice president and disease area executive for type 1 diabetes at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, where she is working on a new treatment, perhaps even a cure, for type 1 diabetes. Each step of the way, from mutant fungus to a potentially game-changing diabetes treatment, Pagliuca followed her fascination with science and emerging biotechnologies.
Reflecting on her scientific beginnings at Duke, Pagliuca said, “Duke was the place I figured out how to become a scientist. It was inspirational. The mentors I had as an undergraduate — I think they saw things in me I hadn’t yet imagined for myself as a career.”
Now she wants to give back. That’s why she has joined the School of Medicine Board of Visitors. “The School of Medicine was the place that inspired and launched my own career in medical research,” she said, “so any opportunity to be able to support the School of Medicine is exciting to me.”
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