Meet the 2022-2023 Secretariat Members
The Assembly Secretariat serves to drive the agenda of the legislature and ensure effective, open debate and dialogue that advances the interests of Duke Graduate/Professional Students. The Secretariat is composed of 18 members, introduced to you below.
Speaker
Jay Lusk (he/him/his)
Bio: Jay Lusk is a 5th year MD/MBA Student in the School of Medicine and Fuqua School of Business. He serves as Speaker and represents the Fuqua School of Business in the Secretariat. Jay has served in GPSG since his first year at Duke, including as GPSG President from 2020-2021. He aspires to a career as a clinician-scientist in Neurology, and his research focuses on the population health of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and stroke, and he is deeply interested in health policy and in health systems transformation to promote health equity. When not at work, Jay sings in the award-winning barbershop quartet Soundtrack.
Clerk
Stay tuned!
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Representatives
Julian Liber (he/him/his)
Bio: Julian Liber is currently a second-year PhD student in the Department of Biology and serves as the Secretariat Representative for Trinity students in the knowledge domain of Natural Sciences. He also serves as the chair for the Doctoral Student Affairs Committee. Previously, Julian served as the General Assembly representative for his department and as GPSG’s representative to the University’s Campus Sustainability Committee. Julian studies the diversity and biotechnological potential of microbes, especially fungi, that live on plant leaves. He hopes to use these organisms to help plants survive impacts of climate change, notably disease, heat waves, and drought. Outside of his research, Julian enjoys looking for fungi on hikes, cooking and baking, photography, and playing with his two cats, Attie and Belle.
Elizabeth Brown (she/her/hers)
Bio:Elizabeth Brown is a sixth year PhD student in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Sciences, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Elizabeth serves as the Trinity humanities representative on the Secretariat. She previously served as one of her department’s representatives on the GPSC (now GPSG). On the Secretariat, Elizabeth chairs the GPSG standing committee International Student Affairs Committee while also serving on the Rules Committee, Doctoral Student Affairs Committee, DEI Committee, Climate Crisis Committee, and Parking & Transportation Committee. Elizabeth is writing her dissertation on the collaborative, community-based, socially-engaged work of Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, whose urban planning and physical transformations of the built environment critically integrate the history of Chicago and its impact on Black cultural life.
Fuqua School of Business Representatives
Jiwook Yoo (he/him/his)
Bio: Jiwook Yoo is a 3rd year MS (computer science)/PhD (financial economics) student in The Graduate School and the Fuqua School of Business. He currently represents Fuqua’s PhD students in the Secretariat and also serves as director of the GPSG Community Pantry. When not trying to come up with an idea for a dissertation chapter, he enjoys playing piano, exploring North Carolina, and baking.Jay Lusk (he/him/his)
See Speaker.Stay tuned for introductions to the other Fuqua Representative(s)!
Pratt School of Engineering Representatives
Kaleb Kassaw (he/him/his)
Bio: Kaleb Kassaw is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Pratt School of Engineering. He represents the Pratt School of Engineering in the Secretariat and is in his first term. His research focuses on improving image recognition models to adapt to real-world deployment challenges, including the presence of partial occlusion of objects and out-of-domain spectral characteristics. He aspires to a career in machine learning algorithm development in modern applications such as driver assistance systems.Stay tuned for introductions to the other Pratt Representative(s)!
School of Medicine Non-Clinical Program Representatives
Abby Leinroth (she/her/hers)
Bio: Abby Leinroth is a 7th year Cell Biology PhD, housed within the Graduate School and School of Medicine. She currently serves as a representative for the School of Medicine on the Secretariat. Abby has served in GPSG since her second year at Duke including as Speaker of the Assembly, Attorney General, and Director of Advocacy. Abby is a member of the Hilton laboratory in the Department of Orthopedics. She plans to defend her research the Fall of 2022. Her thesis focuses on the defining and examining the role of non-myogenic cells in skeletal muscle development.
Kyle Williams (he/him/his)
Bio: Kyle Williams is a second year Masters student in the School of Medicine studying Medical Physics. He is the Chair of the DEI Committee and one of the School of Medicine representatives in the Secretariat. This is his first year serving on the GPSG. He aspires to be a clinical radiation medical physicist in the future. His research currently includes developing a patient support for SPECT Breast Imaging. When not at work, Kyle enjoys playing marimba and going to his friend’s favorite bar which will remain anonymous for fear of becoming mainstream.
School of Medicine Clinical Program Representative
Sydney Record (she/her/hers)
Bio: Sydney Record is a 3rd year MD Student in the School of Medicine. She serves as the Secretariat representative for School of Medicine clinical students. Sydney has served this role in GPSG since her first year at duke. Sydney looks forward to a career as an academic breast surgical oncologist. Her research focuses on surgical intervention in patients with metastatic breast cancer and those with moderate- and high- risk mutations. Outside of work, Sydney enjoys running, musicals, and exploring Durham.