James Buchanan Duke established an endowment in 1924 to transform Trinity College in Durham, North Carolina into Duke University. The School of Medicine opened in 1930 and included the Department of Biochemistry, which was primarily for teaching medical students. Soon thereafter the Department became a member of the Graduate School and began a PhD program.

By the early 1960s several students had earned the PhD degree and the Department had grown from its original size of four faculty to about its present size. In addition, the number of graduate students in the Department had grown to about 60, largely as the result of funds awarded by the National Institutes of Health for PhD training, including student stipends. During its years of growth the Department also attracted many PhD or MD graduates from other universities for post-doctoral research training in faculty laboratories.

The PhD graduates and former post-doctoral fellows have begun their own independent careers in either academia, industry or research institutes. The faculty in the Department are generally highly regarded for their research accomplishments and six are members of the National Academy of Sciences. Many of the departmental graduates and post-doctoral fellows are now faculty at other institutions training their own students and fellows.”

Robert Hill, May 2005