Randall Best, MD, JD, Clinical Associate in Emergency Medicine, has announced his retirement after 40 years in medicine and nearly two decades at Duke.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Best obtained his doctor of medicine degree in 1981 from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, NC. After medical school, Dr. Best went on to complete his Emergency Medicine Residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan in 1984.
Dr. Best joined the then-Duke Division of Emergency Medicine in 2006 as an Assistant Professor. In 2008, Dr. Best obtained his law degree from the University of North Carolina in order to positively influence health care policy and regulations in the state of North Carolina.
That same year, Dr. Best was honored with the Duke Emergency Medicine Faculty Teacher of the Year Award for his dedication to training and mentoring physicians and physician assistants in the emergency medicine residency programs.
His passion for health equity and advancing public health directives has led Dr. Best to serve in leadership positions and memberships in several professional organizations and associations throughout his career, including as former President of the North Carolina College of Emergency Physicians.
Within the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIM), Dr. Best has served on the North Carolina Bar Association Health Law Section and the Advance Directives Clinics Committee since 2008 and 2014, respectively. Dr. Best also participated on both the New Models of Care and the Pediatric Obesity Task Forces for the NCIM in 2011.
"Dr. Randall Best has been a significant member of the Duke Department of Emergency Medicine for almost two decades," says Dr. Charles Gerardo, Interim Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. "His influence on the department has been tremendous. While we are sad to see him go, we offer sincere congratulations to Dr. Best on his retirement and he will always be a member of the Duke Emergency Medicine family."
Dr. Best's final shift in the emergency department will be on April 17, 2023.