On Tuesday, March 21st, Dr. Debara Tucci was the 2023 Dr. Patrick Kenan Lecturer.
Dr. Tucci was nominated by Dr. Dennis Frank-Ito. The annual Kenan lectureship was established in 2011 and highlights the importance of mentorship in resident education and faculty development. Dr. Tucci was one of our Department’s longest serving faculty members when she left to become the Director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health in 2019. In addition to Dr. Frank-Ito, Drs. Kaylie and Raynor also gave tributes to Dr. Tucci’s defining contributions as a mentor during their early years on the Duke faculty. In turn, Dr. Tucci highlighted the critical role of several mentors during her career as an Audiologist and then Otologist-Neurotologist and Clinician-Scientist. She also shared the challenges and lessons learned over her years at Duke, and spoke of the personal kindness and mentorship provided by Dr. Kenan and others as a junior faculty member, and one of only 2 women in the Department of Surgery. She concluded her talk with a review of our Department’s accomplishments and trajectory in the face of adversity over the past decade.
Congratulations, Dr. Tucci!