Includes 2 oral history interviews with Dr. Nancy B. Allen conducted on November 10, 2006 by Jessica Roseberry and June 1, 2020 by Joseph O'Connell as part of the Department of Medicine's Oral History Project.
In the November 10, 2006 interview, Allen discusses women's issues in the medical field, including her own experiences as a female staff member in the Duke University Medical Center Department of Medicine's Division of Rheumatology; Dr. Joseph Greenfield; and Dr. Nannerl O. Keohane.
In the June 1, 2020 interview, Allen discusses her early life, interest in medicine, medical education, her career, and her experiences preparing for retirement during the Spring 2020 emergence of COVID-19.
Dr. Nancy Bates Allen, MD, was born Nancy Bates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1952 and grew up near Richmond, Virginia. In 1970, she received an American Heart Association Grant and worked in the cardiac catheterization lab in Hunter Holmes McGuire Hospital in Richmond. She graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1974 and began medical school at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. She then transferred to Tufts University in Boston. She arrived at Duke as a resident in 1978. During that time, she persevered in a training environment intended to produce what she calls "the Duke Marine." She accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Medicine in 1984, and graduated to full professorship in 1999.
Her primary area of clinical expertise is in the care of patients with all vasculitis types. Allen's 42-year career at Duke emphasized clinical practice, including serving as a primary care physician. In addition to practicing at Duke clinics, Allen worked extensively at affiliated outreach clinics, serving local populations and training Duke fellows in locations such as Fayetteville, Roxboro, Oxford, and Henderson, North Carolina. As an instructor, Allen models listening to patients as a central skill.
Allen began advocating for the recognition of women's issues in the Department of Medicine and on the larger campus; she would eventually serve on several committees in this capacity, including as chair as the Women's Committee in the Department of Medicine for 12 years and as a member of the University Committee on Faculty Women. Allen also served on the search committee for Duke president Dr. Nannerl Keohane. A longtime member of the Academic Council at Duke, she chaired the council for three years until 2005. In 2005, Allen was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Diversity and Faculty Development.
Allen has received a number of awards, including the Eugene A. Stead, Jr. Award for excellence in teaching from the housestaff at Duke (1986), Distinguished Faculty Award from the Duke University Medical Alumni Association (1996), and the Leonard Palumbo, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award from the Duke University School of Medicine (2004) for excellence in clinical care, teaching and mentoring of young physicians.
Allen retired from Duke in 2020.