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BULLETIN
HMS FACULTY COUNCIL Council Examines Child Care, Research ConductAt its March 15 meeting the Faculty Council discussed child care issues, options, and resources in the Harvard medical community. Councilor Isaac Schiff, head of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, detailed the rationale for developing a backup child care center at MGH and the positive effects that this center has brought to the entire MGH community. Efforts to establish the backup center were spearheaded by a subcommittee of the Women in Academic Medicine Committee, which is cochaired by Mrs. Jane Claflin and Nancy Tarbell, professor of radiation oncology. Twenty-two MGH departments—both clinical and administrative—help to underwrite the center by each contributing $12,000 a year. This financial subsidy permits low-income families to use the center at little or no cost, and others pay only $4 per hour. The center, which opened in August 1998, is available for use by faculty, staff, and patients. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with plans to offer Saturday hours before summer. Council member Carol Nadelson, director of the Partners Office for Women's Careers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, described the existing child care resources available for the BWH community and the goal to open a 24-hour on-site emergency child care center. Currently BWH contracts for 59 child care slots at the Longwood Medical Area Child Care Center and an additional 59 slots will become available this summer at the new Bright Horizons center at the Landmark Center. These contracts incorporate a sliding fee scale for employees earning less than $70,000 per year. In addition, BWH contracts with Parents in a Pinch, a private agency, to provide emergency in-the-home care. Citing industry data, Nadelson noted that backup child care facilities have significantly reduced employee absenteeism, increased productivity, and enhanced recruitment efforts. Louann Cozzens-Westall, assistant director of planning at HMS, said that HMS and its affiliates hold contractual agreements for a total of 517 slots for routine child care, as well as 24 slots for emergency child care at the MGH backup child care center. To help defray the high cost of child care, HMS established a scholarship program. Since 1998, HMS has increased scholarship funding from $100,000 to $300,000, and the number of scholarships awarded has increased from 63 in 1998 to 117 in 2000. Families with a yearly income less than $100,000 are eligible. Most awards range from $1,000 to $2,000 per year and 56 percent have been given to postdoctoral fellows. Barbara Wolf, manager of the HMS Office of Work and Family, indicated that her office provides information and referrals for child care, including summer camp referral, and parenting workshops; eldercare information, referrals, and workshops; and information on parental leave. The office also provides general family resources and assistance, including information on legal and tax issues for child care consumers, flexible spending accounts, and school options. Along with the support of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women, the office maintains three breastfeeding rooms on the Quad that are equipped with pumps. HMS contracts with Parents in a Pinch not only for emergency child care, but also for adult companion care. All faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and students at HMS, HSDM, HSPH, and six affiliates (Beth Israel Deaconess, BWH, Dana–Farber, Joslin, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and MGH), as well as the Partners Corporate Offices, can use these services. The council moved to recommend to medical dean Joseph Martin that a child care subcommittee be established to develop ways to address the continuing need for child care options and support. Investigator Rights, DutiesThe council then listened to a presentation by Linda Wilcox, HMS ombudsperson, on the rights and responsibilities of investigators while conducting research. Wilcox said that the number of people contacting the Ombuds Office to discuss research issues continues to increase. Major areas of concern fall into four broad categories: What belongs to whom? What can I expect as credit for my effort? How should I deal with threats to my work due to relationship problems? What can prevent misunderstandings when grants are at stake? Wilcox gave specific examples for each category and indicated that misunderstandings often arise at the outset, especially if expectations have not been clearly delineated.Wilcox indicated that no easy or perfect answers exist to these questions. She asked that the faculty policies on integrity in science, which were written in 1988 and 1991, be reexamined and updated to fulfill present needs. A discussion followed on the best ways to proceed. Nadelson indicated that she would recommend to Martin that he appoint a subcommittee to examine guidelines for researchers' rights and responsibilities. Varmus Gives Keynote Talk at Soma Weiss Day Harold Varmus.
HMS students Bill Meehan and Erica Marsh.
Photo by Liza Green. The 60th Annual Soma Weiss Medical and Dental Student Research Day, held on April 13 in the MEC, highlighted an array of student research in fields ranging from cell biology and genetics to epidemiology and international health. In addition to a poster session of more than 80 research projects, four students gave presentations of their work, which examined the mechanisms of DNA replication, programmed cell death, and tumor maintenance. Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, former NIH director, and new president of the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center (top), gave a keynote speech on mouse models for human cancer. The models, though not exact, "can lead to discoveries of major gene families and signaling pathways," he said, serving as a framework for certain forms of the disease. Ebert Speaker Says Minority Applicants to Medical, Dental Schools Must Increase Vincent Rogers. Photo by Steve Gilbert. Vincent C. Rogers, associate administrator for health professionals for the Department of Health and Human Services, emphasized the importance of increasing the underrepresented minority applicant pool for medical and dental schools at this year's Robert H. Ebert lecture on April 14. Nationally, the number of minorities entering medicine is decreasing though the proportion of minorities in the general population is growing. Sponsored by the Office of Recruitment and Multicultural Affairs and the Multicultural Alliance at HMS, the annual lecture coincided with the revisitation weekend for accepted minority students. Rogers congratulated HMS and HSDM for selecting 65 medical and seven dental underrepresented minority students for the year 2000 matriculating class. Honors and AdvancesThe American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science has named Carla Shatz, the Nathan Marsh Pusey professor and chair of neurobiology at HMS, as the recipient of the Weizmann Women in Science Award. This biannual award recognizes an outstanding woman scientist for significant contributions to the scientific community, and includes a $25,000 prize for her lab. Shatz will receive the award at a June 6 ceremony in New York. The Sequella Global Tuberculosis Foundation has named Barry Bloom, dean of the School of Public Health, as one of 13 researchers in the Core Scientist Program of its Tuberculosis Vaccine Collaboration. As part of this inner circle, Bloom will help guide the foundation in its support of TB vaccine development. Bloom's lab is working on live attenuated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to use in new vaccines. Edward Khantzian, HMS clinical professor of psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, has received the Founders Award from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry for his pioneering work in addictions research and his educational and political efforts. Khantzian will give the keynote address at the academy's annual meeting in December. The G&P Foundation for Cancer Research has awarded Stephen Pirie-Shepherd, HMS instructor in surgery at Children's Hospital, a medical research award that includes a $175,000 grant. Eight awards were given to promising young investigators for cancer research. The foundation also recently named to its medical advisory board Jerome Groopman, the Dina and Raphael Recanati professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Joseph Coyle, the Eben S. Draper professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital and head of the consolidated Department of Psychiatry, was elected president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the leading honorific society for psychiatric researchers. Coyle currently chairs the board of neuroscience and behavioral health at the Institute of Medicine. The Society of Black Academic Surgeons awarded an honorary fellowship to William Silen, the HMS faculty dean for faculty development and diversity and the Johnson and Johnson distinguished professor of surgery, for his role in supporting African Americans entering the mainstream of American surgery. At the annual meeting in March of the American Psychopathological Association held in New York, Ming Tsuang, the Stanley Cobb professor of psychiatry and head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, received the Paul H. Hoch award for outstanding contributions to psychiatry and psychiatric research. He also presented the award address "Defining Schizophrenia in the 21st Century: A View Towards Primary Prevention." The National Cancer Institute recently presented Michael Klagsbrun, HMS professor of cell biology in the Department of Surgery at Children's Hospital, with a MERIT award. The NIH chooses investigators for this program based on demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity. The award will support Klagsbrun's research on neuropilins and angiogenesis. Hidde Ploegh, the Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. professor of immunopathology and director of the HMS graduate program in immunology, has been honored with the 2000 Avery-Landsteiner Prize from the European Immunology Group. The prestigious, biannual award for immunology research includes a cash prize of almost $15,000. The American Association for Cancer Research awarded Daniel Haber, HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, the first AACR-NFCR Professorship in Basic Cancer Research at its annual meeting held in San Francisco on April 2. The two-year, $50,000-per-year award is funded by the National Foundation for Cancer Research and will support Haber's salary at MGH. Stephen Boswell, executive director of Fenway Community Health Center and HMS instructor in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS on March 20 at the Office of National AIDS Policy in Washington, DC. Members were chosen by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, with approval from the president. Boswell is a co-investigator of the HIV vaccine testing network, a group of sites funded by the NIH that are testing HIV preventive vaccines. News BriefDavid Christiani, director of Occupational Environmental Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been awarded a $2.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Medicine. The grant will support a five-year study by Christiani, HSPH professor of epidemiology and HMS professor of medicine, and colleagues on the molecular epidemiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Grant to Establish Neuro-oncology Center at Dana–FarberThe Charles A. Dana Foundation will award the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute $7.4 million over five years to establish the David Mahoney Center for Neuro-oncology. This "center without walls" will extend to collaborating institutions and departments, with David Nathan, the president of Dana–Farber and the Smith professor of medicine at HMS, as its initial principal investigator. A Preview of Alumni Week EventsThis year Alumni Week events and reunions run from Wednesday, June 7 to Sunday, June 11. Special events include an HMS faculty symposium titled "Harvard Medical School and Its Affiliates: New Programs and New Science" on Thursday, June 8, from 9:00 a.m. to noon; a millennial banquet ($75 per person, $55 for alums from the Classes of 1990–99) hosted by Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Daniel Federman, dean for medical education, and the Council of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association on June 8 in the grand ballroom of the Sheraton Boston Hotel, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. reception; and an Alumni Day symposium on June 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. titled "The Harvard Medical Community on the Threshold," moderated by alumnus Daniel Federman and featuring panelists R. Bruce Donoff, dean of the School of Dental Medicine and alumnus; Barry Bloom, dean of the Faculty of Public Health; and Joseph Martin, with active participation from the audience. The week kicks off on Wednesday, June 7, when the Division of Medical Sciences hosts an alumni-sponsored symposium on current topics in biomedical research from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. On Class Day, Thursday, June 8, the keynote speaker at the 2:00 p.m. degree ceremony will be Daniel Federman. Other Class Day highlights include a Class of 1975 symposium from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with panel discussions on medical science in the 21st century; health for the new millennium from a population perspective; advances, opportunities, and challenges in clinical medicine; personal perspectives on the practice of medicine; and the experiences of women and minority members of the Class of 1975. On Friday, June 9, alumni will get a chance to have a guided tour of the newly renovated Countway Library from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. To register for these programs, please call the Alumni Office at (617) 432-1560 or e-mail nora_nercessian@hms.harvard.edu. HMS Staff Member Recognized as Outstanding VolunteerAt the University's volunteer recognition night on April 11, an HMS em-ployee was among five Harvard employees honored as "truly outstanding volunteers." Harvard also donated $1,000 to each of the community organizations the volunteers represent. Lauren Dewey Platt, executive director of the HMS Scholars in Clinical Science Program, was singled out for her work with the Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC). For the past five years, Platt has volunteered two to three nights per week on committees dealing with issues facing the neighborhood. She was appointed by Mayor Menino to the Fenway Planning Task Force after being nominated by the FCDC. Platt also is one of the first trustees of the Fenway–Mission Hill Trust, a foundation to support neighborhood programs. Additionally, she cochairs the FCDC's Fenway Family Coalition, which runs two after-school programs, among other activities. Other volunteers from the medical and public health staff recognized for their commitment to community service (and all having been nominated by the organization they support) were Lenny Libenzon and Maritza Morell from HSDM; Sarah Freeman, Janna Frelich, Steven Gortmaker, Nancy Griffiths, Rebecca Thomforde, Kimberly Thompson, Karin Travers, and Robert Zackin from HSPH; Edward Crippen, Alfred Domenico, and Sydney Ann Fingold from the New England Regional Primate Research Center; and Donna Cantillo, Sonia Gonzalez, Richard Jonas, Kelly Martin, Michael Phillips, Roxanna Quinn, and Henry Warren from HMS. |
