Joseph “Alex” Duncan, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine
Associate Professor, Pharmacology
Director, UNC School of Medicine Physician-Scientist Training Program
Areas of Interest
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, infection and vaccine development, Infection pathogenesis and host immunity, innate and adaptive immune response
About
Dr. Duncan is a physician-scientist investigator with a laboratory focused on understanding the role of the human immune system both in protecting us from infection but also in understanding how host immunity is exploited by pathogens to promote infections. He is also the director of the Physician-Scientist Training Program which serves as a comprehensive career development program encompassing clinical medicine specialty and subspecialty training through the ABIM Research Track Pathway and scientific postdoctoral training.
Awards and Honors
- 2008 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists
- 2007 Sexually Transmitted Infection and Topical Microbicide Cooperative Research Center Developmental Award
- 2006 K12 Scholar – UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Developmental Program
- Biochemical Characterization of Monarch-1, a Regulator of Signaling within the Innate Immune System
- 2004 Pfizer Fellowship in Infectious Diseases
- 2002 David A. Ontjes Award (Outstanding UNC Internal Medicine Intern, 2001-2002)
- 2000 Alpha Omega Alpha appointment
- 1998 UT Southwestern Graduate School Deans Discretionary Award
- 1997 Alfred Gilman Memorial Award for Excellence in Research
- 1997 Twenty-Ninth Annual Sigma Xi Graduate Student Research Forum Poster Award: S-Acylation of Heterotrimeric G Protein Alpha Subunits
- 1996 Haberect Wildhare-Idea Program Research Grant: Rapid Isolation of Small Peptide Affinity Tags
Memberships
- Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Care Center
In the news
Global health research is a collaborative process, and each researcher at the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases contributes a piece to solving the puzzle of disease and morbidity. With a new academic year underway, read what some of our investigators are working on to improve the health of global populations. Their multi-disciplinary findings will be … Read more During April, STD Awareness provides an opportunity to talk about STIs and encourage individuals to be proactive about their sexual health and promotes regular STI/HIV screening and testing. Although research in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has evolved rapidly on multiple fronts, a critical remaining challenge is the development of safe and effective vaccines for diseases that pose … Read more The NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded UNC’s Marcia Hobbs and Alex Duncan a five-year, $3.9 million grant to study how a vaccine recently developed to prevent life-threatening infections caused by group B Neisseria meningitidis, the MenB vaccine, may also protect people from infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a sexually transmitted bacterial … Read more
IGHID Investigators Discuss Projects As New Academic Year Begins
STD Awareness in April: Infectious Disease Experts Are Working to Advance the Development of Vaccines for Sexually Transmitted Infections
Hobbs and Duncan win $3.9M NIAID grant to study a meningitis vaccine’s effect on gonorrhea