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BULLETIN
Leadership Forum Addresses Research on Health DisparitiesAs director of the NIH's Office of Research on Minority Health, John Ruffin spoke in the TMEC on Oct. 3, describing recent progress in addressing health disparities between minority members and other Americans.
When he spoke at HMS, John Ruffin said his primary point was to convince listeners that health disparities do exist between minorities and others. —Steve Gilbert In 1990 when Ruffin became the first NIH associate director for research on minority health and the director of the new office, he found it difficult to convince people that health disparities existed. "Convincing the people who can make a difference is the toughest part of the job," he said. Now, however, there is a broad consensus in the health policy community that these inequalities are real—and serious. Ruffin said he only had one point to make in his talk: "When you hear an individual say that there is a disparity between minorities and the rest of the population, it's true." Ruffin organized a 53-member fact-finding team in 1991, which explored the state of minority health and asked the question "What are we not doing that we should be doing?" The team issued a report with 13 recommendations, involving specific health issues like prenatal health and infant mortality; research on disorders such as HIV, diabetes, and hypertension; and training for minority faculty and students. These recommendations formed the basis of the office's Minority Health Initiative, funded in 1992 at $45 million and rising to the current level of $80 million. Members of the fact-finding team included cochair David Satcher, now the U.S. Surgeon General; Barbara Jordan, former U.S. representative; and Donna Shalala, now the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Through the health initiative, all 13 of the recommendations have been implemented in some way, Ruffin said. And these programs are amplified within the NIH which, he said, spends $1.3 billion annually on minority health issues. The talk was sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy. Youth Violence Prevention Center Established at HSPHThe Harvard Injury Control Research Center at HSPH has received a $5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center. The five-year grant will support local, regional, and national youth violence prevention and research projects through collaboration with scientific and nonprofit organizations. David Hemenway, HSPH professor of health policy and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and Deborah Prothrow-Stith, HSPH professor of public health practice, will direct the new center. "Despite success in reducing firearm violence in the mid-1990s in the United States, rates of lethal violence involving youth and general violence by girls have been rising, and appear to be rising again in Boston," Hemenway said. The center will fund projects to identify risk factors for youth suicide and violence perpetrated by girls, to evaluate violence prevention programs in Boston public middle schools and police and hospital youth referral programs, as well as a variety of smaller research projects. It will also provide seed money for innovative pilot projects. The center will work with the Educational Development Center in Newton and the New England Medical Center in partnership with the Boston mayor's office, Boston public schools, Northeast regional state health offices, community health centers, and several nonprofit agencies. Ebert Day Showcases Outreach Programs, Dean's Community Service AwardsThe HMS/HSDM Dean's Community Service Awards were handed out on Oct. 19 this year by HSDM dean R. Bruce Donoff as part of Ebert Community Service Day. Faculty awards were given to Jim Yong Kim, HMS instructor in medicine, for his work with Partners in Health; Harvey Makadon, HMS associate professor of medicine, for work with the Fenway Community Health Center; and David Potter, the Robert Winthrop professor of neurobiology, for the HMS Four Directions Summer Research Program. Three students of the HMS Class of '02 received awards: David Gordon for the Mentoring for Science Program, Laura Gottlieb for work with Peace Games, Inc., and Karen Ho for work with the Hepatitis B Education and Prevention Boston Initiative. The staff award went to Amalia Sgourakes, assistant to the dean at HSDM, for work with the Theophany School; and the trainee award went to Chi-Cheng Huang, resident in pediatrics and medicine, for work with the Bolivia Street Children Home Fund.
David Potter, who received a Dean's Community Service Award, discusses with second-year student Vi Nguyen her poster presentation. —Steve Gilbert The ceremony included remarks by Eugenia Handler of the Fenway Community Health Center about the leadership Harvey Makadon has brought to the center, and Berinda Malden, a teacher at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, who read praise from students for the Mentoring for Science Program. Each agency associated with award winners received $1,000. Ebert Day also featured student poster presentations and booths from community service agencies. HSDM Grants First Award To Promote Academic Dental MedicineHSDM has announced that Yi-Ling Lin, instructor in oral medicine and diagnostic services, is the first recipient of the HSDM Dean's Scholars Award. The new award is the result of a task force created in 1998 by HSDM dean R. Bruce Donoff to address the shortage of dental faculty in the U.S. The goal of the Dean's Scholars Program is to introduce postdoctoral students to careers in academic science, develop faculty who are prepared for interdisciplinary research challenges, and provide protected time to promising students so they can pursue research interests. Recipients of the award will receive a stipend and tuition support to offset the financial burden that accompanies a career in research, basic science, or teaching. In return, they agree to a two-year faculty commitment at the Dental School. Lin is also a postdoctoral fellow researching transcriptional regulation in osteoclasts in the lab of David Fisher, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. University-wide Events Promote Mental Health AwarenessEdward Hallowell, HMS clinical instructor in psychiatry and founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health, will be the HMS speaker during a two-week series of events sponsored by the Provost's Task Force on Mental Health to increase student, faculty, and staff awareness of mental health issues. Hallowell will present a talk, "Bringing the Harvard Community Together," on Nov. 3 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. in the TMEC amphitheater. For more information on the series, visit www.provost.harvard.edu/shcb/caring. Conference Gathers Health Care Leaders to Discuss Quality of CareThe Harvard Conference on Quality of Health Care in the Era of Consumerism, sponsored by HSPH, will be held November 15 to 17. Harvard faculty and national health care leaders will address recent changes in health care delivery and consumer expectations. Space is limited, so registration before November 1 is recommended. Note that a fee is required. For more information and to register online, visit www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe/programs/QHC.shtml. More information is also available by calling 432-1171. Honors and AdvancesThe Institute of Medicine honored two HMS faculty members with medals at its 30th anniversary celebration this month. Mary Ellen Avery, the Thomas Morgan Rotch distinguished professor emerita of pediatrics and physician in chief emerita at Children's Hospital, was presented with the Walsh McDermott Medal. The medal is given in recognition of longstanding distinguished service. Rashi Fein, professor emeritus of the economics of medicine, received the first Adam Yarmolinsky Medal. The award recognizes a member outside of the health and medical sciences for distinguished service who over time has contributed in multiple ways to the mission of the institute. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has announced that Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the Vincent L. Gregory professor of cancer prevention at HSPH, has been awarded the Brinker International Award for Breast Cancer Research. He was selected to receive the award because his "discoveries in the epidemiology of breast cancer have challenged prevailing paradigms, greatly expanded understanding and knowledge, and fostered new eras of research and treatment." The award will be presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference in December. In recognition of his lifetime contributions in cytochemistry, Morris Karnovsky, the Shattuck professor of pathological anatomy, was recently honored as the recipient of the David Glick Award from the International Federation of Societies for Histochemistry and Cytochemistry at its international congress held in York, England. On the Threshold: Harvard Medicine at the MillenniumDean Joseph Martin's millennial celebration continues with this upcoming event. For more information, visit the website. November 16 and 17Parkinson's and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases: Bench to BedsideThis two-day symposium on neurodegenerative diseases gathers speakers from HMS-affiliated hospitals, the NIH, and Merck to discuss current research and advances in treating these diseases.
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