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BULLETINThe Art of Healing "Fact is, just about all of us, no matter our intelligence or skill or profession, are pretty clumsy at the business of dying," said Philip Simmons (seated above) in a March 20 symposium titled "What Is Healing? Reflections from a Religious Leader, a Physician, and an Author with a Life-threatening Illness." "Understanding this," Simmons continued, "feeling in your bones that your patient's journey is your journey, carrying this awareness with you into every examining room you enter, can make the difference between being a competent doctor and a great one." The symposium, which allowed medical students, physicians, and individuals to explore practical and philosophical answers to the question of how to heal when no cure is possible for an individual's illness, was organized by Dan Lowenstein (above left), HMS dean for medical education, and Simmons, who eight years ago, at age 35, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a disorder causing progressive destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Simmons is a participant in the HMS class "Living with Life-threatening Illness" and associate professor emeritus of English at Lake Forest College in Illinois. Joining Simmons and Lowenstein were Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (right), rabbi-in-residence at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and Balfour Mount, director of the McGill University Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care. Photo by Graham Ramsay
Fabric 2001 Dresses Up TMEC with Song, DanceFabric, a celebration of Black culture, was held March 22 in the Tosteson Medical Education Center. The evening was a benefit for Type for Life, a student committee to increase and diversify the National Bone Marrow Registry, and featured dance, music, poetry, and art of the African diaspora. Above, Sierra Washington and Mehret Mandefro perform a jazz dance. Photo by Graham Ramsay
The Fourth-years' Rite of SpringLike fourth-year medical students across the country, HMS students crowded around the door to the registrar's office on March 22—Match Day—to find out where they would serve their internship after graduation. Greg Sawicki and Aliyah Rahemtullah were excited that they matched with their first choices, Boston Combined Pediatrics and Massachusetts General Hospital, respectively. After graduation, 94 percent of the Class of 2001 will begin clinical internships, more than half at HMS teaching hospitals. The most popular specialties with the students are in primary care (family practice, internal medicine, medicine–pediatrics, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology), with 56 percent choosing these. Photo by Jeff Cleary
HMS Promotes Berti to RegistrarHMS assistant registrar David Berti has been promoted to registrar, replacing Carol Duffey. Berti first came to the Registrar's Office in 1995, serving as group leader until his promotion in 1996 to assistant registrar. Before that, he worked in Faculty Services. Photo by Jeff Cleary
In MemoriamDonna Rowland, training grant coordinator for the HMS Division of Medical Sciences for nearly nine years, died suddenly in the early hours of March 22. In the 1970s, with a background in microbiology, Rowland joined the immunology laboratory of John David, HMS professor of medicine, at what was then the Robert B. Brigham Hospital. Following this, she worked in the Office of Educational Development, where she managed and analyzed course evaluations. In her position as training grant coordinator, Rowland managed PhD training projects, collaborating with hundreds of HMS faculty members over the years. A memorial service will be held April 12 at 4:00 p.m. in the Minot Room of the Countway Library.
Born in Kerriston, Wash., Sweet graduated from the University of Washington and HMS. As a Rhodes Scholar he earned a BSc degree from Oxford, and later received his DSc. After serving in the British Emergency Medical Services during World War II, he returned to Boston and joined the faculty of HMS and MGH. His pioneering work included establishing one of the first brain scan research laboratories and the first to be used routinely for clinical localization in the diagnosis of focal brain lesions, developing techniques to relieve pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia, and applying hypothermia to the management of brain hemorrhage. Sweet was an active participant in the major national and world neurosurgical and neuroscientific organizations, including being the permanent honorary president of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and an honorary member of the International Association for the Study of Pain. He was a member of the technical and scientific advisory committee of NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight. Sweet was also a senior member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include the Emperor of Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, the Cushing Medal from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Neurological Surgeons. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; three children from a previous marriage, David of Irving, Texas, Gwendolyn Fletcher of Boston, and Paula Carroll of St. Louis; and eight grandchildren. Memorial gifts may be made to the William Sweet Professorship, c/o Office of Resource Development, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St., Boston, Mass. 02115.
Countway Offers Weekly MeditationPreethi Naidu, reference and research services librarian, will lead weekly meditation sessions at the Countway Library. The sessions are free and open to all members of the Longwood Medical Area community. No experience is necessary and registration is not required. The meditation sessions will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. every Thursday in the Lahey Room on the fifth floor of the Countway. Any questions, contact Preethi Naidu at 432-1848 or e-mail pnaidu@hms.harvard.edu.
Honors and AdvancesCharles Berde, HMS professor of anesthesia (pediatrics) at Children's Hospital, has been awarded the Jeffrey Lawson Award for Advocacy in Children's Pain Relief from the American Pain Society. The award recognizes his contributions to improving pain control for pediatric patients. Berde is director of the Pain Treatment Service at Children's. President Bush has nominated John Graham, HSPH professor of policy and decision sciences and the founding director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, to be administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Policy in the Office of Management and Budget. Graham's appointment will be subject to Senate confirmation this spring. Eight of the 30 recipients of the recently announced 2001 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans are HMS students. The fellowships provide up to a $20,000 stipend and pay half the cost of tuition for up to two years of graduate study. The fellowships were established to recognize the contributions made to this country by immigrants and the children of immigrants. First-year students Karimi Mailutha and Pardis Sabeti and second-year students Ramy Arnaout, Suzanne Goh, Grace Lopez, Mehret Mandefro, Harsha Reddy, and Erica Seiguer are among this year's recipients. Laurie Glimcher, the Irene Heinz Given professor of im-munology at HSPH and HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, received the Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. She recently presented the award lecture, "T Helper Cells: Genes and Development," at the Experimental Biology 2001 meeting. As part of the award, Glimcher received a $10,000 unrestricted research grant. The American Society for Clinical Investigation has also named Glimcher its 2001 award winner. She will receive a $20,000 cash prize and present the award lecture later this month at the society's meeting in Chicago. The Kappa Delta Sorority and the Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation presented Myron Spector, HMS professor of orthopedic surgery (biomaterials) at Brigham and Women's Hospital, with the Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for his paper "Expression of Muscle Actin in and Contraction of Chondrocytes, Osteoblasts, and Musculoskeletal Tissue Fibroblasts." The award was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Maurice Jeter, HMS '02, has been named as one of eight fellows for the Josiah Macy Jr. Substance Abuse Program. The honor recognizes Jeter's potential leadership in clinical and basic science research, treatment, and public policy in the area of substance abuse. Starting this month he will participate in an eight-week fellowship rotation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Jeter will receive a $6,000 stipend. The Metropolitan Life Foundation has selected Francisco Rubio, HMS '02, as one of 14 Metropolitan Life Scholars. He was recognized for his outstanding academic achievement, leadership, community involvement, and potential for distinguished contributions to medicine. Along with a certificate of merit, Rubio will receive a $4,000 stipend. The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience has selected Mel Feany, HMS instructor in pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, as one of five recipients of its first Memory and Brain Disorders Awards. Recipients receive $100,000 a year for three years for research aimed at translating recent discoveries about the brain into ways to improve human health. Feany received the award for her research on the genetic analysis of Alzheimer's disease in Drosophila. The Association of American Publishers named Epilepsy and Behavior, founded and edited by Steven Schachter, HMS associate professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as the best new journal in the category of science, technology, or medicine for 2000. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute has named Jeffrey Sutton, HMS associate professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, as team leader for its smart medical systems team. Sutton will manage scientists from seven institutions working on eight remote medical technology projects. |
William Sweet, HMS professor emeritus of surgery and former chief of the neurological service at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was on staff for more than 60 years, died January 22 . He was 90.