Grace Kerby
1912-1987
Grace Kerby was born in Syracuse, New York in 1912. She attended Florida State College for Women, graduating with a BS in Chemistry in 1933. She became a Bacteriologist and worked in the autopsy bacteriology laboratory for the Department of Bacteriology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. From 1937 to 1940, she worked as a Bacteriologist for the Brucellosis Laboratory of the Clayton Foundation for Research in San Antonio, Texas.
She came to Duke University Medical School in 1940 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Pathology. In 1942, she was an Instructor of Pathology at Duke but resigned this position in 1943 to enroll in Duke’s medical school. Dr. Kerby, who was in her early thirties at the time, graduated at the head of her class in 1946.
Additional highlights of Dr. Kerby’s career in Duke’s Department of Medicine included:
- First female Chief Resident (1950)
- Headed the House Staff Selection Committee (1958 to 1975)
- First female Full Professor (1963)
- Chief of the Division of Rheumatic and Genetic Disease becoming the first female to serve as a Division Chief (1965 to 1971)
Dr. Kerby retired in 1976 and passed away in 1987.
Rebecca Clayton Interview on Kerby
This oral history interview was conducted with Rebecca Clayton on March 15, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. Rebecca Clayton worked as Dr. Grace Kerby’s secretary in Duke University’s Department of Medicine from the 1960s until Kerby’s retirement.
Gale McCarty Interview on Kerby
This oral history interview was conducted with Gale Ann McCarty on June 29, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. Dr. McCarty was an alumna of Duke University’s Department of Medicine and mentee of Grace Kerby.
James Wyngaarden Interview on Kerby
This oral history interview was conducted with James Wyngaarden on October 17, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. Dr. Wyngaarden was chair of the Department of Medicine for part of Kerby’s career at Duke.