Radiology: Catching Cancer Before It Takes Hold Social Medicine: AIDS Study in Africa Shows Decline Amid Growing Epidemic Cell Biology: Gene Related to Tumor Suppressor Linked to Stem Cell Pool Education: Soma Weiss Day Study Finds Two Thirds Of Breast Cancer Symptoms Require Follow-up Care Crystal Structure Solved for Tumor-Associated Complex ECMO Shows Promise in Some Adults Eating an Egg a Day OK for the Heart HMS Community Meets on Gay and Lesbian Issues Deans Make Case for Meeting on Gay and Lesbian Issues Wilson Outlines $20 Million Study of Welfare Reform A Preview of Alumni Week The Robert H. Ebert Lecture on April 15 In Memoriam: David Smith, Thomas Morris Jr., Eugene Sullivan Memorial Service for John Penney Honors and Advances News Brief The Fay Golden Kass Lecture on May 4 Mining Information from Mountain of Scientific Data Front Page

BULLETIN HMS Community Meets on Gay and Lesbian Issues The town meeting on gay and lesbian issues on April 22 drew a crowd that filled the Carl Walter Amphitheater. Dean Joseph Martin, in an introductory speech, addressed the issue of homophobia on a national and state level and in the medical community, saying that for some, homophobia is "the last socially permissible bastion of prejudice."    Citing a study done by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, he said that 52 percent of the gay and lesbian physicians surveyed observed substandard care based on the patient's sexual orientation. Additionally, he said, 98 percent believed that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals would have health concerns overlooked if they did not tell the doctor about their sexuality.    Martin said that HMS still has "a long way to go," and gave examples of intolerance reported by students in clerkships at affiliated hospitals.     Martin stressed the need to close the gap that differences tend to create between people, and to see beyond those differences. "The development of an attitude of tolerance and of acceptance regarding the differences between ourselves and others is a constant battle for most human beings. If we have a reasonable and respectable dose of self-worth and self-acceptance—indeed, self-esteem—then we all have a tendency toward diminishing the value of differences in others. If one is tall, it is easy to be dismissive of short people. If one is athletic, fit, and trim, it is difficult not to be condescending to obese persons (even though intellectually, one can surmise, or even believe, that the condition may be metabolic or genetic).     "And so it is with sexual preferences. One's perspective on the issue is modified as a matter of experience, growth, and maturity, and from learning to know, as human beings, as friends, and as colleagues, those of a different orientation. In my own case, the privilege to live and work in San Francisco was enormously beneficial. Tolerance, acceptance, camaraderie, and mutual appreciation was the order, not the exception.     "Whatever the basis for differences in sexual preference—genes, developmental exposures, metabolic differences, intrauterine variabilities, or simply the expression of the remarkable complexity of the human being—there is only one moral way to deal with these differences: by acceptance, by recognition of the value that differences bring. And to work together to limit, if not totally eliminate, the damage that results from homophobia."     Martin also said he had received a letter opposing the town meeting, and that he and Dean William Silen issued a response (see sidebar).     On a more hopeful note, he said that "with your help tonight we can begin to change some of the severe problems as well as the more subtle issues that surround us in the Harvard medical community."     Martin's speech was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Dean Daniel Federman.   Deans Make Case For Meeting on Gay And Lesbian Issues In response to the flyers announcing the April 22 town meeting on gay and lesbian issues, the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity received a letter from a faculty member asking the office and the three leaders hosting the event to withdraw their support. The letter stated that gay activists' diversity message is problematic to the majority of Americans and that sexual preferences should not share common ground with "more genuine" issues of ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity. Deans William Silen and Joseph B. Martin sent the faculty member a response that, in part, stated: "Whether or not your comments regarding 'sexual perversity' being 'problematic to the majority of Americans' can be accepted as accurate is debatable. The Harvard Medical School and its Executive Council on Diversity have taken the definitive position that diversity includes tolerance not only of disabilities and ethnic, racial, or cultural differences, but also tolerance of individuals with alternative sexual preferences. To that end we believe that the Town Meeting is long overdue, especially since our students encounter serious and degrading homophobic comments and behavior very frequently.     "While everyone is entitled to his/her personal opinion on these issues, we feel very strongly that every person of whatever persuasion deserves to be treated with respect, dignity, and collegiality."   Wilson Outlines $20 Million Study of Welfare Reform William Julius Wilson expects initial findings in one year. Liza Green, HMS Media Services In a Cabot Primary Care Series lecture on April 6, William Julius Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University, described a $20 million, four-year investigation of welfare reform in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, which he has begun with colleagues at other universities. The talk was titled "Welfare Reform and Children: A Three-City Study."     The 1996 national welfare reform bill and recent changes on the state level "constitute the greatest shift in social policy for low-income families with children since the Social Security Act of 1935," said Wilson, a winner of the 1998 National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor in the U.S. He called the change a "national experiment," whose provisions make public assistance temporary, putting a limit on support of women staying at home and requiring them to seek work. The study will give policymakers the information they need to assess the consequences of reform on "the upbringing and well-being of the next generation," Wilson said. Preliminary findings, which could be either positive or negative, he said, are expected in about one year.     The study is supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a consortium of private foundations.   A Preview of Alumni Week This year Alumni Week runs from Wednesday, June 9 to Sunday, June 13. New events include a Harvard Medical Women's Forum on Wednesday, June 9, from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., and a guided tour of the Harvard School of Public Health on June 11, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Also on the program are panel discussions on affirmative action. "Thirty Years Later: Affirmative Action at Harvard Medical School" will be held on Wednesday, June 9, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Minority graduates address "Affirmative Action: What Physicians Can Contribute" on Thursday, June 10, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Class Day, which is Thursday, June 10, the keynote speaker at the 2:00 p.m. degree ceremony is U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher. Other Class Day highlights include a Class of 1974 symposium from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Alumni Day program titled "Blue Sky and Dark Clouds: Scientific Progress and Ethical Issues" takes place on Friday, June 11, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. On the same day—and for the second year—there will be tours of the affiliated teaching hospitals for HMS alumni, from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. There is also an expanded HSDM program titled "Periodontal Medicine in the Next Millennium: Implications for Clinical Practice" on Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13. You can register and review the entire Alumni Week schedule of events on the Web at www.hms.harvard.edu/alumni/alumweek99. For more information, call 432-1560 or email hmsalum@hms.harvard.edu.   Honors and Advances The codirectors of the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Joseph Bonventre, the Robert H. Ebert professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Martha Gray, the J.W. Kieckhefer assistant professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering in the division, have been named 1999 fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. A senior scientist at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Patricia D'Amore, has received the Jules and Doris Stein RPB Professorship Award given by Research to Prevent Blindness. The professorship, granted through the HMS Department of Ophthalmology, provides $375,000 over five years to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases. HMS instructor in medicine Winfred Williams has been appointed to the board of trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, which awards master's degrees and professional certification in physical therapy, speech-language pathology, nursing, and clinical investigation. Williams is the director of the interventional nephrology program, renal and transplantation units, and the multicultural affairs office at MGH. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has selected Howard Hu, associate professor of occupational medicine in the Department of Environmental Health at HSPH, to receive a Scientific Advances Award. Hu was selected for his paper "Decrease in Birth Weight in Relation to Maternal Bone-Lead Burden." The award is presented for current, exceptional achievements made with funding from NIEHS. News Briefs The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has received a U.S. patent for the use of DNA probes to diagnose and treat retinoblastoma and to detect faulty retinoblastoma genes in patients with other solid tumors. The disease is an often fatal eye cancer mainly afflicting children from birth through 5 years of age. "This invention could eventually lead to significantly improved medical care for patients," says Thaddeus P. Dryja, the David Glendenning Cogan professor of ophthalmology at HMS and MEEI, whose research, along with that of the Whitehead Institute's Stephen Friend, led to the probe's development. Oncogene Science Diagnostics, Inc. holds an exclusive license to the patent. The Program in Ethics and the Professions at Harvard invites applications for six faculty fellowships for 2000–2001. The fellowships will be awarded to teachers and scholars who wish to develop their competence to teach and write about ethical issues in public and professional life. Candidates should hold a doctorate or professional degree and have completed their last degree within the past five years. The application deadline is December 1. To receive an information packet, please contact the program at 495-1336 or 495-3990. The American Board of Radiology has announced the B. Leonard Holman Research Pathway for certification in radiation oncology or diagnostic radiology, in honor of Holman, who served as the chairman of radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital from 1986 to 1998. Those who are interested in this pathway should plan for it either as a medical student or intern. For more information, please contact Sally Edwards in the BWH Department of Radiology at 732-5957. The Harvard AIDS Institute at HSPH received a $2.5 million grant from the Oak Foundation to establish a research and training program in southern Africa. The three-year program covers research involving sequencing the genome of HIV1-C, the variety of AIDS common in southern Africa; vaccine development; a demonstration project targeted at testing and improving drug treatment used to block transmission of HIV from mother to infant; and training at Harvard in AIDS science and research techniques for about 10 young investigators from southern Africa. The Harvard School of Dental Medicine/Harvard Medical School Center for Craniofacial Tissue Engineering will award two seed grants of $60,000 to support the creation of a biologic tooth substitute. Emphasis is on an interdisciplinary approach, and the proposal must be for a collaborative project linking an investigator from HSDM or Forsyth Dental Center with an affiliated institution. The submission deadline is June 1. For more information about applying, contact the Office of the Dean, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, at 432-1401.   In Memoriam David Hamilton Smith, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital from 1960 to 1976, died February 23 at the age of 68. Born in Canton, Ohio, Smith graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Rochester School of Medicine. After leaving Children's, he went to the University of Rochester, where he was chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases from 1978 to 1983. In 1996, he and his colleague Porter W. Anderson developed a vaccine against type B influenza, for which they were awarded the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award. Childhood bacterial meningitis, the disease caused by type B influenza, has been practically eliminated as a result of the vaccine. He is survived by his wife, Joan; three daughters, Andrea and Rachel of New York City, and Jennifer of Takoma Park, Md.; a brother, Richard of Delaware, Ohio; two stepdaughters, Jody Leader of Brookline and Kristin Leader of Rome; and five granddaughters. Thomas A. Morris Jr., psychiatrist and former clinical instructor in psychiatry at HMS, died February 13 at the age of 82. Born in Hamlet, N.C., he graduated from Wake Forest University in 1937, and received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1941. After serving in the Navy Medical Corps during World War II, he was a consultant at Westborough State and Boston State Hospitals. He also taught at Tufts Medical School and practiced at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Boston, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. He is survived by his wife, Dee (Sell); a son, Thomas A. III of Duxbury; four daughters, Mary Ada Schwartz of Lynnfield, Elizabeth A. Johnson and Susan J. Morris, both of Bridgewater, and Sara D. Morris of Natick; a sister, Helen Martin of Richburg, S.C.; and eight grandchildren. Eugene R. Sullivan, former HMS assistant in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and founder of a system of mobile blood banks during World War II, died March 3. He was 89. A 1934 alumnus of HMS, Sullivan did research in John Enders's laboratory. He was a Harry P. Wolcott fellow in clinical medicine in 1938 and had a Jeffrey Richardson fellowship during 1941–42. He also worked on the influenza vaccine in the laboratory of Tom Francis at the University of Michigan. As an officer in the Army Medical Corps during the campaigns in Italy and North Africa, he developed a system of mobile blood banks, for which he received the Legion of Merit. Sullivan went on to become director of clinical laboratories and director of the blood bank at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Jamaica Plain. He is survived by his son, Roger of Brookline; two daughters, Rachel Berlin of Concord and Martha Brady of Carlisle; and six grandchildren.   A memorial service for John Penney Jr., professor of neurology at HMS and MGH since 1991, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 22, at the First and Second Unitarian Universalist Church, 60 Marlborough Street, Boston. Donations to the John B. Penney Jr., M.D. Memorial Fund for Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease may be sent to Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology, VBK915, 32 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114.   Liza Green, HMS Media Services The Robert H. Ebert Lecture was given on April 15 by David E. Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and professor of medicine at UCLA. In his talk, "Latino Health Movement: Affirmative Action 30 Years Later," Hayes-Bautista said that while Latinos make up 30 percent of the population in California, only 4.8 percent of the physicians are Latino. He also noted that between 1995 and 1998 there has been a 30 percent drop in black and Latino matriculation at medical schools in the state. (In 1995, the California Board of Regents voted to drop affirmative action in two years as a criterion for student admission to the state's public universities.) The Fae Golden Kass lecture will be given by Elizabeth Marincola, executive director of the American Society for Cell Biology. Her talk, "Biomedical Careers: No Longer for Granted," will be at 5:00 p.m. on May 4 at the Walter Amphitheater in the Medical Education Center. The annual lecture is given by a woman in the medical sciences. Back to Top