Despite myriad challenges, clinicians see room for progress.
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Nancy Andrews says, “I like having big questions to attack.” Over the last two decades, she has studied mammalian iron homeostasis and human iron diseases, for which her team has identified many associated genetic mutations. Her laboratory created more than 30 mouse models of iron-related diseases and pathways, including a model that elucidates the role of iron in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, Andrews is the first woman to be appointed dean of the Duke University School of Medicine. She is also vice chancellor for academic affairs at Duke, where she holds the Nanaline H. Duke Professor of Pediatrics chair and is a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology.
Portrait of Nancy Andrews. Image courtesy of Duke University School of Medicine.
First Doctor and Scientist in Her Family
Andrews grew up in Syracuse, New York. Her father was a lawyer dedicated to working for the underserved. Her mother was a social worker. Andrews says, “There weren’t any doctors or scientists in my family. My parents made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to do, even though options for women were more limited when I was young.” From an early age she enjoyed math and using logic and information to solve puzzles and support arguments. Science came easily to her, and she was invited to work in a laboratory at Syracuse University while she was still in high school.
Andrews chose Yale University for her undergraduate studies. There she met Joan Steitz, a professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry who became a mentor. While she was earning her bachelor’s degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, Andrews worked in Steitz’s laboratory. She entered Harvard Medical School in 1980 and, in her second year of medical school, went to the Massachusetts Institute of …
Profile of Nancy C. Andrews
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