Klein focuses on energy policy, interdisciplinarity

Justin Klein, a Young Trustee finalist for the graduate and professional community, has seen Duke from almost every perspective.

He has spent 11 years at the University, first as an undergraduate, then as an alumnus, an employee and now, a medical student.

"I've been everything except faculty," Klein said.

Currently in his sixth year of medical school, Klein graduated in 1999 with bachelor's degrees in biological anthropology and anatomy and economics. He also received a minor in chemistry. Klein then worked at the Duke University Medical Center as a special projects assistant.

In the middle of medical school, he left Duke to pursue a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

While a student of both institutions, Klein was named a finalist last year for Duke's Young Trustee competition.

Despite frequent trips between Durham and Cambridge, Klein said he felt disconnected at the time from graduate and professional student issues after spending three years away from Duke.

"I realized I was really passionate about making a difference at Duke and that I could do it, but that I needed to recommit myself to graduate and professional students and get back into the stream," he said.

As Young Trustee, Klein said he would focus on expanding interdisciplinary studies and improving the exchange of information between DUMC and the University.

If selected, he plans to work to enact a University-wide initiative on improving its energy policy, which he views as an economic, social and political issue.

Klein added that he believes Duke can be a major world leader in energy policy in the future.

"An energy initiative could involve everything from physics and chemistry to humanities and languages, international business, law, the environment and ecology," he said.

He also noted the "invisible wall" that exists between DUMC and the University. He said that when he was an undergraduate, DUMC seemed an inaccessible "black box."

One suggestion Klein has for breaking down this wall is the creation of a website informing students about research opportunities at DUMC, much like President Richard Brodhead's service-learning website.

"I don't see myself as being an agenda-focused Young Trustee," Klein added. "I would not go there as a lobbyist for specific programs and resources, because I think we have student representatives to the Board who can do those things effectively."

GPSC President William LeFew, a graduate student in mathematics, said he respects Klein's consistent desire to tackle difficult issues. "There are few people who know as much about the Medical Center as he does, including administrators," Few said. "He is easily one of the top-ten most knowledgeable people."

Klein has worked to develop a strategy for covering the costs of graduate and professional student health insurance, an issue that has topped GPSC's agenda this year.

He said he plans to present the strategy, which he developed in collaboration with a team of other students, to graduate and professional school officials next week.

Klein would also like to see the Board's discussion of the "student experience" better encompass graduate students, in addition to undergraduates.

After graduation, Klein plans to pursue the intersection of health and technology in venture capitalism, where he can utilize both his law and medical degrees.

"What is important to me is the opportunity to maintain strong contacts with Duke, both in the University and the Medical Center," he said.