On Jan. 9, 2025, Professor of Pathology Laura Hale, MD, PhD, and Assistant Professor of Pathology Chelsea Landon, DVM, PhD, DACLAM, were recognized as two of Duke University School of Medicine’s top instructors for their outstanding teaching in Duke Pathology’s Graduate Program in Pathobiology and Translational Biosciences.
Hale was recognized for her teaching of the PATHOL 725 “Introduction to Systemic Histology” course. Landon was recognized for her teaching of the PATHOL 735S “Animal Models in Translational Research” course. They each received excellent ratings on their teaching in the fall 2024 course evaluations. These ratings were calculated based on median ratings at or above 4.5 on all instructor characteristics as well as a median rating of 4.5 or above on their overall effectiveness.
“Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and it is my pleasure to acknowledge the impact you made on our students,” wrote Associate Dean for Research Training Beth A. Sullivan, PhD. “On behalf of the Office of Biomedical Graduate Education, I extend my deepest gratitude for your teaching and your commitment to educational excellence.”
Anna Hampton, DVM, director of the Office of Animal Welfare Assurance, also received a commendation for the outstanding lectures on the regulatory aspects of animal care and use that she gave as part of the Animal Models course directed by Landon.
For over 25 years, Hale has taught the Introduction to Systemic Histology and General Pathology courses, typically taken by graduate students in pathology and other biomedical departments in the fall and spring of their first year of graduate school. She also typically teaches several classes each year for other graduate courses, including Molecular Aspects of Disease; Animal Models in Translational Research; Laboratory Management for Pathology Assistant Students; and Basic Biology of Cells as a Function of Aging. She also teaches medical students in the first half of the pathology section of the Fundamentals of Patient Care 2 course taken by first year medical students.
In addition to teaching, Hale is a practicing pathologist and an accomplished researcher. Since 1995, Hale has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on over 40 NIH-, DOD-, and privately funded grants that studied mechanisms and novel therapies for immune-mediated diseases and cancer. In August 2023, she received a five-year grant award through the National Institute of Aging as part of a program project to determine mechanisms that control age-related thymic atrophy and changes in immune function and as well as to identify therapies that can rejuvenate immune responses in older individuals.
In March 2023, Hale and Joseph Turek, MD, PhD, associate professor and chief of Duke Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, received a two-year R21 grant titled “Transplantation of Cryopreserved Thymus” from the National Institute of Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases. They received another two-year R21 grant in November 2024 to further investigate thymus transplantation to induce tolerance in the setting of pig-to-human xenotransplantation. These exploratory studies will determine how pig thymus interacts with human T cell precursors and test novel methods to enhance human T cell development within pig thymus.
Landon earned her PhD from Duke Pathology in 2013 under the mentorship of Gustavo S. Montana Professor of Radiation Oncology Mark Dewhirst, DVM, PhD. Her graduate research focused on the use of hyperthermia to enhance drug delivery and anti-tumor efficacy. She later earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine and returned to Duke to complete a residency in laboratory animal medicine.
Landon currently serves as assistant director within the Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR) and as assistant professor within the Department of Pathology, with a strong interest in animal model development and collaborative research efforts. She is a member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and Duke Cancer Institute. Her current research interests involve various immunization strategies and the use of the maternal rabbit model for a variety of translational applications, including immunization, dietary deficiencies, disease model development, and toxicology-based studies.