Madeleine Duvic

Madeleine Duvic

Class of 1969

Academic Medicine:  Professor of Internal Medicine and Dermatology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  The Blanche Bender Professor of Cancer Research

Madeleine Duvic attended Miss Aiken’s School, and Trinity Episcopal School, before entering McGehee in 6th Grade, graduating with Honors in Biology in 1969. She was fond of all her teachers and classes, especially mentors like Joan Matthews Starr ’60, and Mrs. Wilkes, who, “sent her to Tulane to feed fruit flies and learn genetics.” While Madeleine enjoyed art and music (especially choir), science, to her, explained things that needed explanation—like the behavior and hormonal fluctuations of teenage girls or why the universe was expanding. She attended a National Science Foundation Summer Student program at LSU during the summer of her junior year and was elected outstanding student. She received a National Merit Scholarship to Rice University Early Decision, where four years of college went by fast, filled with friends and learning opportunities. Madeleine landed at Duke University School of Medicine because their students are encouraged to create projects of their own choosing, in her case, Immunology. She completed residencies in Medicine and Dermatology and a fellowship in Molecular Genetics.  She has spent her career in Houston at University of Texas Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Center as a physician scientist doing translational medicine to develop new drugs for cancer.  She has written over 500 papers and given talks in many remote places. She continues an interest in T cell lymphomas and the explosion of cancer immune-therapies. She married a Rice classmate in 1986 and became the mother of two girls. Madeleine continues to learn about the universe from photos taken by the James Webb telescope, enjoys attending the opera, visits lots of museums, and reads lots of great books.     

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