Biological Chemistry: Researchers Glimpse Poliovirus as It Enters Host Cell Neurobiology: Ion Channels Hold Clues to Drug Action Children's Health: New Report Gives Data on Care for Children Medical Education: New Criteria Are Promoting Clinical Teaching Public Health: What's Your Cancer Risk? Ethics: Undue Influence? Equity Interests in Biomedical Research Books: Winter Bookshelf Peptide Promotes Angiogenesis Through Oxygen-restoring Protein Air Pollution May Exacerbate Problems Editorial Says Think Twice About Hormone Replacement Therapy Faculty Council Kahn Named President of Joslin Faculty Appointments Grants Available for Skin Disease Research Second-Year Show Honors and Advances News Briefs Third-Years Write Prescription for Ailing Clinical Education Program Begins Teaching Residents to Teach Letter to the Editor Front Page

BULLETIN Author Guidelines, Committee on Medical Science Degrees Lead Agenda At the December meeting of the Faculty Council, Robert Fletcher, HMS professor of ambulatory care and prevention, delivered the report of the council's subcommittee to consider the development of a set of guidelines on authorship. Fletcher, chair of the subcommittee, noted that since the last review of HMS authorship policies in 1988, much has changed, including research teams with complementary and highly specialized expertise that may affect who is credited and how. The advent and proliferation of electronic publications presents added challenges to authorship rules. After consulting numerous sources (including guidelines from other universities, major journals, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors), reviewing the 1988 policies, and debating the issues, Fletcher's subcommittee arrived at some recommendations. Council members extensively discussed the recommendations and expressed strong support for the intent of the guidelines. The guidelines are designed to help make certain that credit is given to those who deserve it, that contributions are clearly delineated, approved, and recorded, and that adequate and open discussion of authorship occurs (including order of authorship). Recommendations were also provided on how to implement the guidelines once approved. Members suggested modifications to some recommendations, which will be addressed and presented to the Council of Department Heads at the January 2000 meeting. Once the guidelines are final, they will be printed in a future issue of Focus. The council approved a proposal for the establishment of a standing committee on master of medical science degrees. Dean for clinical programs Raphael Dolin, who will chair the committee, stated that it will provide oversight for programs that award the degree. It will review current programs for compliance with academic and administrative standards, as well as proposals for new programs. The committee will also make recommendations to the Council of Academic Deans and the Faculty Council on the conferral of degrees and program changes. Each program will submit an annual report for committee review and have a formal, external review at least once every three years. Membership of the committee will consist of 15 broadly selected full-time faculty members at HMS or HSDM, who will be appointed for three-year rotating terms. Kahn Named President Of Joslin C. Ronald Kahn C. Ronald Kahn, the director of Joslin Diabetes Center, has been chosen to succeed Kenneth E. Quickel Jr. as the center's new president. The Mary K. Iacocca professor of medicine at HMS, Kahn has served for more than 17 years as the research director at Joslin, and in 1998 was named executive vice president and director. Kahn is internationally known for his research on insulin signal transduction and mechanisms of altered signaling in disease. Last year, Kahn was recognized with election to the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. "The Joslin has a long and wonderful history," Kahn says. "I look forward to the challenge to build on this base and help move Joslin into the 21st century with innovation and excellence in clinical care and research." Appointments to Full and Endowed Professorships These faculty members were appointed to a full professorship in October, November, and December. Paul D. Allen Professor of Anesthesia Brigham and Women's Hospital Allen is both a clinical anesthesiologist, heading the Urology and Renal Transplantation Services and the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Anesthesia. His major research interests are in the mechanisms of skeletal muscle EC coupling, with a special interest in structure–function studies of RyR-1, the skeletal muscle calcium release channel. Christophe Benoist Professor of Medicine Joslin Diabetes Center Benoist coheads the immunology and immunogenetics section at Joslin Diabetes Center. His research uses advanced tools of molecular biology to discover how T lymphocytes acquire a repertoire of receptors that recognize foreign antigens and cellular and molecular defects, which underlie autoimmune diseases such as diabetes or arthritis. Hugh Curtin Professor of Radiology Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Curtin is the chief of radiology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. His major research interest is the use of modern imaging for evaluation of patients with diseases of the head and neck. He has a particular interest in how various anatomic structures affect tumor spread at the base of the skull. Robert Kane Professor of Radiology Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Kane is director of ultrasound and associate chief for administration in the Department of Radiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His research interests include ultrasound-guided cryoablation of liver tumors, a technique that he pioneered. Other research interests include the development of intraoperative ultrasonography and the detection of prostate cancer using ultrasound, serum PSA levels, and prostate gland volume. He is the principal investigator for the National Prostate Cancer Detection Project of the American Cancer Society. Andrew Lassar Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Harvard Medical School Lassar's lab is studying the regulation of mesodermal cell type diversification and differentiation in vertebrates. Work in the lab is focused on identifying the signaling molecules and transcription factors that control the formation of skeletal muscle, cartilage/bone, and heart tissue. In addition, he is studying how cell cycle progression and differentiation of these different cell types is coordinated. Robert Lenkinski Professor of Radiology Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Lenkinski is the director of experimental radiology and of the 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Program in the Department of Radiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His major research interests include clinical magnetic resonance spectroscopy, multinuclear imaging at high magnetic fields, and the development of targeted MR contrast agents. Carla Shatz Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology Harvard Medical School Shatz is the incoming chair of the Department of Neurobiology. Her research is directed at understanding how the adult pattern of precise and orderly connections in the central nervous system is achieved during development. The major subject under study is the development of neural connections in the mammalian visual system, with an emphasis on the sequence of early fetal events associated with the formation of these connections. In particular, she seeks to determine the extent to which neural function during fetal life may play a role in the formation of the adult pattern of connections. Bruce Walker Professor of Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital Walker is director of the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital. His primary research focus is on the role of cellular immune responses in chronic viral infections, including HIV and hepatitis C virus. Walker's laboratory was the first to characterize the cytotoxic T cell response in HIV infection, and to show an association between HIV-specific T helper cells and control of viremia. Some of his recent studies focus on immune augmentation as a therapeutic strategy in HIV infection. Christopher A. Walsh Bullard Professor of Neurology Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Walsh is a neurologist and chief of the Division of Neurogenetics in the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His major research interests involve the study of the basic development of the cerebral cortex of the brain, and the analysis of genetic disorders of brain development that cause neurological disease in humans. His lab has identified genes that are mutated in epilepsy, mental retardation, and learning disorders in humans. Subbarao Yalla Professor of Surgery West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center Yalla is the chief of Urology at the Veterans Administration Health Care System and a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital. His primary clinical and research activities involve neurourological and biomechanical aspects of voiding dysfunction in the adult and aging population and spinal cord injury patients. His ongoing research focuses on functional and structural changes in the detrusor response to bladder instability and bladder outlet obstruction. Honors and Advances The Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester received the 1999 Harvard Award for Excellence in Children's Health for its work to prevent lead poisoning in children. The center tests children for high levels of lead and has established a program to decrease the danger of lead-contaminated soil in Dorchester yards. The $10,000 award is sponsored by the Harvard Center for Children's Health, Children's Hospital, and the City of Boston. At the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in November, the first Academic Mentorship Award was presented to Eugene Braunwald, the Hersey distinguished professor of theory and practice of physic and faculty dean for academic programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Established to recognize excellence in the development of promising talent in cardiovascular medicine, the award next year will be renamed the Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award. The NIH has chosen Meir Stampfer, HSPH professor of epidemiology and nutrition and HMS associate professor of medicine at the Channing Laboratory, to chair the Epidemiology and Disease Control Study Section 2 at the Center for Scientific Review. Stampfer will provide leadership for the peer review group, which evaluates NIH grant applications. Ronald Kessler, HMS professor of health care policy, recently received a $1.4 million grant from the Pfizer Foundation to help fund the World Health Organization's World Mental Health 2000 initiative. Using survey data, this 10-year study will examine the prevalence, causes, and consequences of mental illness in 25 countries throughout the world. Kessler and the WHO's Bedirhan Ustun will serve as co-principal investigators on the initiative. Harvard Medical School is the data coordination center. Research fellows Bill Chih-Hung Tsai and Huck Hui Ng have been named Runyon–Winchell fellows. The three-year postdoctoral fellowships are awarded to outstanding young scientists conducting cancer research. Ng will conduct his research in the lab of Kevin Struhl, the David Wesley Gaiser professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, while Tsai will do research in the lab of Tom Rapoport, Howard Hughes investigator and HMS professor of cell biology. In December, the University of Ancona, Italy, bestowed an honorary degree in biology on Elio Raviola, the Bullard professor of neurobiology at HMS and curator of the Warren Anatomical Museum. Michael Good, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, and Max Day, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, received the 1999 Cesare Sacerdoti Prize at the 41st Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association. They were awarded the £500 prize for their co-authored (with Eve Rowell) paper "False Memories, Negative Affects, and Psychic Reality: The Role of Extra-Clinical Data in Psychoanalysis." President and director of research at Schepens Eye Research Institute, J. Wayne Streilein has received a $60,000 Senior Scientific Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, made through the HMS Department of Ophthalmology. Streilein studies ways in which the immune system can be harnessed to fight blinding diseases. News Briefs Harvard Medical School is one of 41 recipients of a Biomedical Research Support Program for Medical Schools Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The four-year $1.8 million grant supports the improvement of research infrastructure and the career development of basic and clinical science faculty. The Massachusetts Medical Society is sponsoring a one-day, international conference on women's health to take place in Paris on April 7. The goal of "Women's Health in the New Millennium: Strong Foundations and New Frontiers" is to facilitate dialogue among American and European physicians and focus international attention on women's health. Several HMS faculty members will speak at the conference, and all workshops will be conducted in both English and French. CME credit is available. For more information, visit the website at www.womenshealth2000.org or call 800-843-6356 for a brochure. The developmental programs in psychiatry and general pediatrics, the Institute for Community Inclusion at Children's Hospital, and the Neurodevelopmental Research Lab at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center in Waltham invite applications for summer research internships and research fellowships in mental health and developmental disabilities. The former are for students, the latter for fellows and junior faculty. Four awards of $4,500 will be made for the summer internship, which lasts from June 19 to August 10. Students must have completed their first year of medical school and be considered a minority according to NIH guidelines. The application deadline is March 10. Awards of up to $10,000 will be given for six research fellowships for the academic year September 2000 to May 2001. Applicants should be clinical fellows or junior faculty in psychiatry, child psychiatry, or pediatrics, or doctoral fellows in psychology or allied disciplines. The application deadline is March 20. For more information on either award, contact Kerim Munir at 355-7166 or e-mail munir_k@tch.harvard.edu. The Scholars in Clinical Science Program is offering postdoctoral training in clinical science. Funded by a Clinical Research Curriculum Award from the NIH, the two-year program, which begins in July, consists of didactic coursework, a longitudinal seminar series, and a mentored clinical research project. Candidates must have an MD or DMD and have completed their clinical training or have a PhD in a clinically related discipline. For more information, contact Lauren Dewey Platt at 278-0882 or e-mail lkdeweplatt@bics.bwh.harvard.edu. Grants Available For Skin Disease Research The Harvard Skin Disease Re-search Center is seeking applications for pilot and feasibility study grants for novel studies of mechanisms of disease in skin or comparable epithelial tissues. The NIH-sponsored center will grant awards for as much as $20,000 to investigators who previously have not studied subjects directly related to skin, but who have model systems that might be relevant. The application deadline is February 18, with awards scheduled to start April 1. For more information, contact Thomas Kupper at 525-5550. Suzie Brown, as Cindy McDermott, sings "Smooth Obturator" to the tune of singer Sade's better-known "Smooth Operator" at the Second-Year Show, performed Jan. 20 through 22. At this year's event, "Perverse Transcriptase," the HMS/HSDM Class of 2002 saved their classmates and professors from a retrovirus that causes those affected to become too sexually (dis)oriented. Rumor has it that first-years are already scheming (and stressing) about how to outdo their classmates this time next year.