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BULLTEIN
Mass. General Names Slavin as Next President
Peter Slavin, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, has been named the next president of Massachusetts General Hospital. He will succeed James Mongan on Jan. 1, 2003, when Mongan becomes president and CEO of Partners HealthCare System. "Peter, first and foremost, is a compassionate physician who always keeps the best interest of families and patients at heart," Mongan said. "I am confident MGH will thrive under his leadership, and I look forward to our continued partnership as we both step into new roles within Partners HealthCare." A member of the HMS faculty and MGH staff since 1987, Slavin served as senior vice president and chief medical officer at MGH from 1994 to 1997. He was then recruited to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis to serve as the merged institution's first president. At Barnes-Jewish, he launched a $320 million construction effort to update and integrate the campuses of the two founding hospitals. He returned to MGH in 1999, becoming CEO and chairman of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, the largest physician multispecialty group practice in the state.
HMS Students Receive Howard Hughes FellowshipsIn April, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced the names of the new graduate and medical student recipients of its fellowships. The awards provide five-year fellowships for students working toward doctoral degrees in the biological sciences as well as support to enable medical students to devote a year to biomedical research. Third-year HMS student David Berry was one of 75 who received predoctoral fellowships while nine of the 53 research training fellowships for medical students went to HMS students: Christina Boulton, Kevin King, Shana McCormack, David Ting, Vladimir Vinarsky, Nikhil Wagle, and Hao Zhu, all from the HST program, and Janet Chou and Scott Damrauer. In June, the institute announced medical student fellows who will receive continued fellowships.The awards support an additional year of biomedical research and also include up to two years of financial assistance for completing a medical degree. HMS students receiving the continued support fellowship are Stephanie Misono, Yvonne Ou, Harris Rose, and Ryan Turner.
Reid Named Kirsch InvestigatorR. Clay Reid, associate professor of neurobiology at HMS, is one of three new recipients of a Kirsch Investigator Award, which recognizes innovative research with a potential for significant breakthrough. The program was started in 2000 by the Kirsch Foundation. "Each investigator works in an area that has demonstrated the potential for significant breakthroughs in the near term," said Kathleen Gwynn, president and CEO of the foundation. Reid will receive $200,000 over the next two years to study electrical stimulation of the visual thalamus as a means toward a visual prosthesis. Jonathan Tilly, HMS associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, will receive a second year of funding. This will be the third year of funding for Ronald DePinho, HMS professor of medicine (genetics) at Dana-Farber.
HMS Teaching Hospitals Receive High Marks from U.S. News and World ReportHarvard teaching hospitals have again fared well in the U.S. News and World Report list of the nation's top hospitals. The 13th annual list appeared in the magazine's July 22 issue. Once again, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital made the magazine's "honor roll," a list of medical centers that scored well in at least six of 17 specialties and "merit acclaim for impressive quality and breadth of expertise." They are ranked third and tenth on the list, respectively. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ranks number 19 in gastroenterology, 14 in geriatrics, 7 in endocrinology, and 31 in nephrology. Brigham and Women's comes in at 11 in gastroenterology, 19 in geriatrics, 3 in gynecology, 4 in cardiology, 4 in endocrinology, 2 in nephrology, 13 in neurology, 9 in orthopedics, 12 in pulmonary disease, 8 in rheumatology, and 31 in urology. Children's Hospital ranks number 1 in pediatrics. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute places number 4 in oncology. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary is number 3 in otolaryngology and number 4 in ophthalmology. MGH is number 19 in oncology, 4 in gastroenterology, 4 in geriatrics, 7 in gynecology, 3 in cardiology, 2 in endocrinology, 1 in nephrology, 2 in neurology, 3 in orthopedics, 14 in pediatrics, 1 in psychiatry, 5 in pulmonary disease, 7 in rheumatology, and 7 in urology. McLean Hospital ranks number 5 in psychiatry. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital comes in at number 11 in rehabilitation.
Countway Library Announces Electronic NewsletterThis summer the Countway library began publishing The Countway Newsletter on its website. This new electronic newsletter features information on new electronic journals and other resources, events of note, and new services and programs. To see it, visit the library's website at www.countway.harvard.edu and click on "Countway News."
In Memoriam
Mariana Mead, HMS clinical instructor in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, died July 29. She was 47. A graduate of Baylor College of Medicine, Mead joined the Harvard community in 1986 as a clinical fellow in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and was promoted in 1992 to clinical instructor in ophthalmology. She became the first female chief resident in the infirmary's 165-year history. In 1990, Mead was named director of the infirmary's Emergency Department. In 1998, Mead, who specialized in corneal surgery, traveled to India with Project Orbis, a volunteer team of ophthalmologists who travel to developing countries to provide eye care for impoverished populations. There she helped restore the eyesight of patients left blind by malnutrition and sun exposure. She also taught local doctors how to repair cataracts and perform corneal transplants. She is survived by her husband, Bill; two daughters, Caroline and Eliza; two sisters; and three brothers. Henry Meadow, former HMS dean for planning and special projects, died July 18. He was 85. Meadow came to HMS in 1950 with dean George Packer Berry and was appointed assistant dean of the faculty of medicine in 1951. During his 33 years at the Medical School, he served three different deans in several important roles including associate dean of the faculty of medicine for financial affairs, associate dean of the faculty of medicine, senior associate dean for administration, and dean for finance and business. He retired in 1983 as dean for planning and special projects. He is survived by his wife, three children, and three grandchildren.
News BriefsPartners HealthCare System has launched the Center for Information Technology Leadership. The center will assess new information technologies and disseminate its research findings to help health care providers make better informed strategic IT investment decisions and improve health care delivery and quality of care. The HSPH Center for Continuing Professional Education has received a full four-year accreditation from the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education. The center is directed by HSPH associate dean David Shore. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded the Program in Membrane Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital a five-year, $5 million grant to examine cell biological mechanisms and protein trafficking pathways involved in normal and pathophysiological transport processes in cells of the kidney and male reproductive tract. Dennis Brown, HMS professor of medicine, directs the program.
Honors and AdvancesBruce Bean, professor of neurobiology at HMS, has received a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health. The four-year award, which may be extended to seven years, is worth more than $350,000 per year. Recipients of the award are selected from investigators submitting regular research grant applications who have a distinguished record of substantial contribution to neurological science and who can be expected to be highly productive over the next seven years. Bean will investigate voltage-dependent ion channels in Purkinje neurons.On July 18, as part of the inauguration of the new community cancer center at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, George Canellos, the William Rosenberg professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, delivered the first annual Lovering Lectureship on Cancer. The Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital was established in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare for clinical trials and education. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute named James Griffin, HMS professor of medicine, as the new chair of the Adult Oncology Department. Griffin, a hematologist and medical oncologist who has been the department's vice chair for research, will lead the restructuring of the institute's largest department. Suzanne Admiraal, HMS research fellow in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, has received a 2002 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences. Each recipient receives $500,000 over five years to help bridge advanced postdoctoral training and the early years of faculty service. Admiraal is researching the biosynthesis of hybrid natural products. McLean Hospital presented its annual Alfred Pope Award for Young Investigators to Lars Bjorklund, HMS instructor in psychiatry; David Harper, HMS instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry; and Dong-Youn Hwang, HMS instructor in psychiatry. The award recognizes excellence in neuroscience research and is the hospital's highest research honor. Sharon-Lise Normand, HMS associate professor of biostatistics in the Department of Health Care Policy, has been named a fellow of the American Statistical Association. At its annual research meeting, the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy honored Paul Cleary, HMS professor of medical sociology in the Department of Health Care Policy, with its 2002 Distinguished Investigator Award. Michael Zinner, the Moseley professor of surgery and head of the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, has been appointed to the board of governors of the American College of Surgeons, representing the American Surgical Association, the oldest national surgical organization in the U.S. The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience announced that it has awarded one of its four 2002 Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Awards to HMS faculty member Bernardo Sabatini, assistant professor of neurobiology. Sabatini will receive $200,000 over two years to develop molecules that emit light when neurons make proteins and to develop a microscope to view the process deep within the living brain. The awards encourage novel approaches to exploring and understanding brain function and seek to expand the range of technologies available to the neurosciences. In July, Dennis Brown, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, became editor in chief of The American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology. Fourth-year HMS student Gregory Chang has been named as an alternate to the U.S. Fencing Team at the 2002 World Championships. Chang is ranked sixth in the U.S. Men's Foil standings. |
