Neha Verma, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Duke University School of Medicine
BIRCWH Project: Translating Biology into Better Treatment Options for Metaplastic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Dr. Verma earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Medical Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the faculty at Duke as a breast medical oncologist in 2025.
Dr. Verma is focused on improving outcomes for patients with understudied subtypes of breast cancer through translational and clinical research. As a BIRCWH Scholar, she will investigate the molecular and immune landscape of metaplastic triple-negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive breast cancer subtype with limited effective treatment options. Her goal is to identify biomarkers that can inform novel therapeutic strategies and ultimately support the development of biologically driven clinical trials for patients with metaplastic triple-negative breast cancer.
Rebecca Sadun, MD/PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology and Immunology, Duke University School of Medicine
BIRCWH Project: Patient-reported outcomes to improve the health of adolescent and young adult women with lupus
Dr. Sadun earned her MD/PhD from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and then completed her MedPeds Residency and Adult and Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowships at Duke University, where she is now an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics. Her clinical expertise lies in the care of adolescent and young adult patients as well as patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Sadun’s research focuses on improving outcomes for patients with childhood-onset lupus, a disease characterized by increased morbidity and mortality.
Through the BIRCWH award, Dr. Sadun will lead the adaptation of a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) designed to capture reasons for medication non-adherence in adult lupus patients, ensuring that the adapted tool is able to identify reasons for medication non-adherence in children, teens, and young adults with lupus. Alongside the adherence PROM, she will be overseeing the development of a lupus-specific PROM to assess lupus-related fatigue in adolescents and young adults. Together, these tools will enable clinicians and researchers to improve morbidity, mortality, and quality of life outcomes for individuals living with childhood-onset lupus.
Tarannum Jaleel, MD, MHSc
Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, Duke University School of Medicine
BIRCWH Project: Hidradenitis Suppurativa in women: Relationship between sex hormones and skin inflammation
Dr. Jaleel received a Bachelor of Science in Biophysics from University of Alabama in Birmingham 2007. After graduation, she worked with European Institute of Women’s Health as a Fulbright scholar. She received both her Medical Degree and completed her residency in dermatology from University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Medicine. She then joined on as faculty at Duke in 2016 and completed a Master’s in Health Sciences through Duke’s Clinical Research Training Program.
Dr. Jaleel’s research focuses on studying the role of sex hormones in skin inflammation as it relates to hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) disease pathogenesis. HS is a chronic inflammatory skin condition with acute painful flares that predominantly affects African-Americans, females and those of lower socio-economic background. It tends to present around puberty and flares of disease have been noted surrounding menses. The role of hormonal fluctuations on disease activity remains to be fully elucidated and there is a desperate need for targeted therapy. Her early work on this topic has been funded by Dermatology Foundation, Skin of Color Society and Duke School of Medicine Precision Genomics Collaboratory Fostering Interdisciplinary Genomic Science pilot grant. With the BIRCWH award and her team of multidisciplinary collaborators/mentors, Dr. Jaleel will further elucidate mechanisms by which hormone signaling controls skin inflammation with the future goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets. Her other interests include developing tools to decrease disparities in health outcomes.
Veteran's Affairs Career Development Scholar
Michelle Pebole, PhD is a Research Health Scientist at the Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) in the Durham VA Medical Center. She is a visiting VA career development scholar in the BIRCWH program.
VA Project: Developing and Testing a Trauma-Informed Exercise
Intervention for Women Veterans with histories of Sexual Violence
Her VA Scholar project will develop, test, and evaluate exercise as a trans-diagnostic intervention to improve well-being among veterans with histories of sexual and partner violence. She will also focus on identifying and integrating trauma-informed principles into the design and delivery of accessible, evidence-based interventions.