Genomics: The Next Big Thing in Mining the Genome Women's Health: Communicating Breast Cancer Risk and Means of Prevention Oral Biology: The Mouth's Microbes Could Hold Clues to Early Cancer Detection Genetics: Rearrangement of DNA Shown to Cause Certain Lymphomas Structural Biology: Molecular Jumping Jack Shows Off Moves Minority Health: Drug Abuse and Bioterrorism Among Issues Raised by Minority Fellows The Summer Bookshelf: Recent Books by Faculty of HMS, HSDM, and HSPH Cloning Study Creates Tissues for Transplantation Heart Protection by Corticosteroids Bypasses Gene Regulation Anti-aging Mechanism Shown in Yeast, May Be Similar in People Proceedings of the HMS Faculty Council Actor Ford Named Global Environmental Citizen Portraits of HMS Women Faculty Leaders Unveiled Human Genome Chief Forecasts Blue Skies for Medical Genomics HOLLIS Gets New Look, Features Alpert Prize Winners Reveal Secrets of the Heart HMS Junior Faculty Receive Armenise Awards Biosecurity Conference Addresses Bioterrorism Threat Barger Speaker Urges Advocacy New Howard Hughes Investigators Chosen for Patient-oriented Research HMS Presents Faculty Awards Honors and Advances Where Have All the Surgeons Gone? Front Page

BULLETIN Proceedings of the HMS Faculty Council At the May 8 Faculty Council meeting, Susanne Churchill, associate dean for research, and Robert Handin, professor and executive vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, discussed recruitment and retention of junior faculty. Faculty Recruitment Churchill noted that HMS, like its clinical affiliates, has severe space limitations, as well as constraints imposed by the issue of retirement, which limits hires of junior faculty. Costs of recruitment are high, though during the past three years nine junior faculty appointments have been made to Quad departments. Major reasons for coming to HMS, cited by new junior faculty, are the community, collaborations, and colleagues, as well as access to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The major concerns in coming were the high cost of living, including housing. Churchill noted that in the past, faculty were happy just to come to HMS, and would put up with living conditions that are no longer acceptable to today's recruits. Other concerns include the low numbers of women and minority faculty as well as competition from outstanding institutions that are offering stronger financial packages. Churchill told the council that once here, retention is not a problem. In the last five years only two junior faculty in the basic science departments have left, one for a lifestyle change and the other for a position in industry. Handin said the Department of Medicine at BWH is in constant flux, with just less than 1,000 faculty and 600 trainees. He noted that trainees are increasingly starting with large debts that limit career choices and with dual-career marriages that restrict mobility. Other problems encountered in recruiting new faculty involve finding spousal employment. He indicated that an additional issue for recruiting new women faculty who have children is the concern of uprooting existing day care and other arrangements. He said that African American and Latino populations have traditionally found this to be an inhospitable environment. However, he noted the Minority Career Development Award, a hospital-based competition for underrepresented minority trainees, as a significant effort to encourage minority trainees to stay and prepare for an academic career. Kathy Spiegelman, associate vice president of Harvard Planning and Real Estate, told the council that a priority of her office is to figure out how to meet the housing needs for those working and training in the Longwood Medical Area. Housing Crunch Spiegelman said that only 20 to 25 percent of medical and graduate students in the LMA are housed in University-owned dormitories. In comparison, many other institutions that compete with Harvard for students provide housing for 50 to 60 percent of their graduate student population. Spiegelman noted that her office finds housing for approximately 12 percent of the faculty in a combination of dorms, apartments, and condominiums As part of a University-wide goal to increase housing within the next five years, Spiegelman said Harvard Planning and Real Estate aims to build new housing for approximately 150 students and faculty in the LMA and is currently looking for possible housing sites. She said the results of the Fall 2001 housing survey of graduate and medical students in the Longwood Medical Area revealed that proximity to the Quad and affordability were the greatest concerns. One housing model that her office is considering is a so-called double studio that offers more space than a dorm room, but less than a regular apartment, and would rent for $750 to $850 per month. Postgraduate Performance Gordon Harper, associate professor of psychiatry, and Jennifer Doyle, director of educational development and evaluation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discussed data from an ongoing study of nearly a decade assessing the performance of HMS graduates during postgraduate training. Harper and Doyle are codirectors of the Follow-up Study of HMS Graduates, which is unique in that it surveys residency directors at the end of the internship and after the third year of residency. Many HMS graduates remain in Massachusetts (46.4 percent), and of these, 41.5 percent stay in Harvard programs. During four of the years studied (1992 to 2000), at least 94 percent of HMS graduates met or exceeded expectations. For this nine-year period, only six percent of graduates would not have been reselected by their internship directors. In general, deficiencies in attitude and behavior exceed those in knowledge and skills, and program directors work with these individuals to remediate the problems. The vast majority of program directors (84 percent) indicated that the Dean's Letter is an accurate assessment of the graduate. Recommendations of the study include a need for early recognition and support for at-risk students through liaison with the Societies, the Advice and Resource Center, and committees that deal with overall assessment. Joel Katz, assistant professor of medicine and a residency training director at Brigham and Women's Hospital, presented his perspective of HMS graduates. Katz told the council that the BWH internship in medicine has 70 interns annually. Over the last 10 years, 39 percent have been trained at HMS. This is, in part, because of the close relationships that develop between physicians and HMS students during clerkships and volunteer opportunities. Additionally, eight of the 18 underrepresented minority physicians in this year's internship class are HMS graduates.   Actor Ford Named Global Environmental Citizen The HMS Center for Health and the Global Environment awarded its 2002 Global Environmental Citizen Award to Harrison Ford on May 13. A noted actor, Harrison Ford is also a vice chair of the board of Conservation International, on which he has served for more than 10 years. A field-based organization, Conservation International concentrates on protecting biodiversity hotspots--25 locations comprising 1.4 percent of the Earth's surface but 60 percent of its species. "Ecosystems provide the network on which all other life depends. Harrison's efforts to protect Earth's most critical places are helping advance human health and well-being," said Eric Chivian, HMS assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment. "I am very honored by this award, and by choosing me you honor the organization I do most of my environmental work for and with, Conservation International," said Ford, who received the 2002 award from last year's winner, Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University professor of biology. "We have a moral obligation to be good stewards of the earth." (Photo by Steve Gilbert)   Human Genome Chief Forecasts Blue Skies for Medical Genomics Don't call it the "Book of Life." There's a lot more to a human being than three billion base pairs posted on the Internet, said Francis Collins (right), director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Even as he advised people to downplay the grandiose language often used to describe the human genome, Collins emphasized how genetics will change medicine. Medical genomics is rapidly moving beyond the realm of rare, single-gene disorders to more complex diseases such as type 2 diabetes. "I challenge you to come up with a disease other than some cases of trauma that does not have a genetic contribution to risk," he said. Collins spent two days at Brigham and Women's Hospital in late May as the first annual visiting professor of the Harvard Medical School/Partners Health Care System Center for Genetics and Genomics and the physician in chief pro tempore at the hospital. Next year, in time for the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA, an international consortium led by Collins will publish the final sequence of the human genome, at least as much as current techniques allow. He predicted that by 2010, information will be translated into mainstream preventive medicine based on genetic tests for a dozen common conditions. In 20 years, the therapeutic consequences will kick in, especially in cancer, where gene-based "designer drugs" will target specific mutations. (Photo by Steve Gilbert)   Portraits of HMS Women Faculty Leaders Unveiled Under the new portraits in the Benjamin Waterhouse room are (l to r) Shirley Driscoll, Elizabeth Hay, Graham Ramsay (the photographer), Lynne Reid, and Mary Ellen Avery. (Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services) An unveiling ceremony was held May 14 to celebrate the addition of five portraits of women faculty leaders to the others that hang in the Benjamin Waterhouse faculty room in Gordon Hall. The event commemorated the first time women have been included among the ranks of portraits of notable Medical School faculty in that venue. Those faculty leaders honored were Mary Ellen Avery, Elizabeth Hay, Shirley Driscoll, Lynne Reid, and Grete Bibring. Avery has been the Thomas Morgan Rotch professor of pediatrics at HMS since 1974 and was head of the Department of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital from 1974 to 1984. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences and was recently chosen as president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1991, Avery received the National Medal of Science from President Bush. Hay was the first woman full professor in a preclinical department, being named the Louise Foote Pfeiffer professor of embryology in 1969. From 1975 to 1993, she was head of the Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, the first woman to head a preclinical department at HMS. Hay is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. In 1975, Driscoll was named professor of pathology and chief of pathology at the Boston Hospital for Women, Lying In Division. She was the first chair of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women, the first chair of the faculty conduct committee, and the first chair of the committee to develop guidelines for investigators in scientific research. Upon her arrival at HMS in 1975, Reid was described as one of the world's foremost pulmonary morphologists and has held the position of S. Burt Wolbach professor of pathology ever since. From 1975 to 1989, she was head of the Department of Pathology at Children's Hospital. Reid has chaired the Joint Committee on the Status of Women and served on the executive committee of the 50th Anniversary Scholars in Medicine Fellowship Program. A student of Sigmund Freud, Bibring was named head of the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Hospital in 1946. Then in 1961, she became the first woman to be appointed full professor in a clinical department at HMS.   HOLLIS Gets New Look, Features This summer Harvard library users will notice a new look and improved features when searching for books on HOLLIS, the Harvard online library information system. The newly designed catalog will be entirely Web-based, offer new features, and give users more control over their library transactions. The new system will let users view a list of the items they have checked out; renew, hold, or recall items; renew books from multiple Harvard libraries at the same time; and check fines. To use these new functions, users will need a Harvard University PIN. To apply for a PIN, visit http://lib.harvard.edu/pin.html. Several existing features have been refined and expanded. Users will be able to limit searches to an individual library or a user-selected group of libraries; easily limit searches to journals, reserves, or e-resources; refine searches by language, format, and library name; find all forms of a word when searching on part of a word; and return to previous searches and review, modify, or combine them. Access to HOLLIS will be through the Harvard libraries portal, which contains general information about the libraries, such as hours and location. Questions about the new HOLLIS online catalog can be emailed to aipcomment@hulmail.harvard.edu. The transition to the new online catalog will require that the existing HOLLIS catalog be frozen between June 5 and July 8. During this time no new information will be added and some transactions--such as book borrowing--will be managed manually. For information on the availability of current printed periodicals or status of circulating collection, Countway Library users can contact 432-2147. Please note that there will be no disruption of availability to electronic resources in the Countway Digital Library during this time.   Alpert Prize Winners Reveal Secrets of the Heart In 1952, on the verge of graduating from medical school, Eugene Braunwald (right) was invited by one of his professors to work in the Thursday night cardiac clinic at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. His experience in the clinic, the first of its kind for the care of patients with congestive heart failure, would launch him on a half-century-long quest to understand and alleviate this deadly condition. It would also provide him with a lesson. "The lesson for me was how significant it is to impress on students the need, and give them exposure in depth, to research," said Braunwald, the Hersey distinguished professor of theory and practice of physic at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He was speaking at this year's Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Scientific Symposium on May 8. His talk and that of Barry Coller, winner with Braunwald of the 2002 Alpert Prize, described vividly the progress in cardiovascular research over the past 50 years. In 1952, heart failure patients were treated with a combination of bed rest, sodium restriction, digitalis and other medications--and a dose of despair. "The therapy did not prolong life, but it made life seem longer, and the attitude was one of hopelessness," Braunwald said. The first hints that doctors might have a chance at prolonging their patients' life came with the discovery that chemicals acting on beta adrenergic receptors in the heart might play a role in disease. "Beta blockers are now routine in management for heart failure," he said. The invention of transgenic mice enabled researchers to pinpoint other receptors and other blockers--ACE inhibitors, aldosterone, and endothelin blockers--that have revolutionized cardiac care. He described his own theory that after myocardial infarction, heart muscle is "stunned" and may be revived by surgical bypass. "Tissue is alive and by waking it up, we might improve function," he said. A six-year clinical trial to test this hypothesis, Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH), is currently under way.   HMS Junior Faculty Receive Armenise Foundation Awards Two HMS researchers were awarded 2002 Armenise-Harvard Foundation grants in May. The aim of the grant program is to provide support to promising junior faculty members in HMS's basic science departments. Each award is $50,000 a year for two years. This year's awardees are Thomas Walz, assistant professor of cell biology, who will investigate spliceosomes using electron microscopy, and Max Nibert, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, who will research reovirus interactions with microtubules in order to achieve an ergonomic description of the viral factory floor.   Biosecurity Conference Addresses Bioterrorism Threat The first global biosecurity conference will be held Nov. 18 to 22 in Las Vegas, presented by Harvard Medical International, HMS, HSPH, and Key3Media Group. BioSecurity 2002 is an international scientific and educational conference designed for senior government officials, scientists, researchers, physicians, public health and hospital officials, and nurses to learn how to control bioterrorism threats. It will feature a comprehensive educational program with keynote speakers representing senior world leadership in the field, plenary sessions that explore common interests across disciplines, and a trade exposition showcasing biosecurity solutions from companies around the world. For more information, visit www.biosecuritysummit.com.   Barger Speaker Urges Advocacy David Burgess (right), a Boston College biology professor and visiting professor in the Harvard Native American Program, delivered a simple, loaded message to the audience in his May 14 A. Clifford Barger Hinton-Wright lecture: "You can and must make a difference." A Western Cherokee, Burgess described his "two lives" as a minority scientist and a cell biologist interested in cell division. He urged listeners to establish themselves as researchers first and then to devote a portion of their time to advancing fellow minority scientists. There remains a great need, he said, pointing out that he is one of only seven American Indians with a primary RO1 research grant from the NIH. The lecture is named for A. Clifford Barger, a former HMS professor and department head who was an early and strong advocate of diversity. It is sponsored by the Hinton-Wright Biomedical Society. (Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services)   New Howard Hughes Investigators Chosen for Patient-oriented Research The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently selected 12 new investigators whose research is guided by their interaction with patients and who are bridging the gap between advances in basic science and clinical research. Among those named as new investigators are three HMS faculty members: Todd Golub, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Bruce Walker, director of the HMS Division of AIDS and professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Christopher Walsh, the Bullard professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Each will receive up to $1 million annually for his research. Golub and his colleagues are developing diagnostic and prognostic tests for childhood leukemia based on the cloning of genes involved in chromosome translocation; devising strategies for predicting responses to chemotherapy based on DNA microarray gene expression; and exploring novel therapeutic strategies based on whole genome analyses of patient samples. Walker and his colleagues are investigating the cellular immune response to human viral pathogens, particularly HIV-1, HIV-2, and hepatitis C virus. He has been investigating the role of virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in chronic human infections and is particularly interested in translational studies to answer basic questions related to viral pathogenesis in humans. Walsh's lab is interested in the causes of mental retardation and epilepsy in children. Increasingly, children with mental retardation and epilepsy are being discovered to have abnormal development of the cerebral cortex. By identifying the genes that are mutated in patients with disorders of brain development, Walsh and his colleagues are learning what proteins are involved and how they function.   HMS Presents Faculty Awards At the final HMS faculty meeting of the year, on May 29, the School made its traditional presentation of teaching awards. The following awards were given by Daniel Lowenstein, dean for medical education. In 1982, the Faculty Council determined that two prizes should be awarded annually to faculty members who, through the excellence of their teaching, would influence the professional lives of students long after graduation. Then, in 1987, the number of prizes was increased to four, one for each year of the curriculum. Due to the difficulty associated with selecting only one recipient for each year, the selection committee chose to honor multiple recipients for each year of teaching. Recipients of the Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching receive a cash honorarium and an engraved plaque as a token of appreciation and gratitude. First-Year Teaching Awards Donald O'Hara, lecturer on biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, associate course director, tutor, and lecturer in the Chemistry and Biology of the Cell course Clifford Tabin, professor of genetics and codirector and lecturer in the Genetics, Development and Reproductive Biology course Second-Year Teaching Awards Dara Lee, instructor in medicine at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Patient-Doctor II preceptor at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital, and tutor, conference leader, and lecturer in Human Systems Module I Diane Fingold, assistant professor of medicine and codirector of the Patient-Doctor II course at Massachusetts General Hospital Katharine Treadway, assistant professor of medicine and codirector of the Patient- Doctor II course at Massachusetts General Hospital Third-Year Teaching Awards Sara Fazio, instructor in medicine and codirector of the Core Medicine Clerkship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Shari Nethersole, instructor in pediatrics, course director for Patient- Doctor II, codirector for the Core Pediatric Clerkship, and coordinator for the fourth-year clinical electives at Children's Hospital Fourth-Year Teaching Awards Hope Ricciotti, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology and director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Trudy Van Houten, lecturer on medical education, director of the Clinical Application of Anatomy course, and tutor and instructor in the Human Body block This award has been given annually since 1981 to a member of the HMS faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for excellence in teaching medical students and house staff. The S. Robert Stone Award for Excellence in Teaching Richard Schwartzstein, associate professor of medicine, clinical director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, director of the HMS I Human Physiology course, director of graduate medical education at BID, and director of trainee programs in education at the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research Initiated in 1990, this award is presented annually to an outstanding teacher who holds joint appointments at HMS and Mount Auburn Hospital. The Leo A. Blacklow Teaching Award Valerie Pronio-Stelluto, instructor in medicine in the Patient-Doctor II course and course director in Physical Diagnosis II James Wiczai was the senior administrator of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital before Brigham and Women's was formed. In that role, he did everything he could to foster the teaching programs of HMS at the hospital. After his death several years ago, his widow created a fund to honor his memory with this award. Daniel Federman, senior dean for alumni relations and clinical teaching, presented the award. The James Wiczai Award for Leadership, Excellence, and Innovation in Medical Education Mary Grace Neal, administrative assistant to Jeremy Schmahmann, associate professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital This award, presented by Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, recognizes contributions of an individual who has significantly enhanced or supported recruitment, retention, or promotion of women at HMS or the affiliated institutions. The Dean's Award for the Support and Advancement of Women Faculty Isaac Schiff, the Joe Vincent Meigs professor of gynecology and head of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital Given for the first time this year and presented by Robert Crone, director of Harvard Medical International, and H. Thomas Aretz, associate professor of pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, this award honors contributions to international medical education. It is named after the dean of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, a partner institution of Harvard Medical International. The Dean Klaus Peter Teaching Award Timothy Brewer, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Channing Laboratory   Honors and Advances Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson has appointed Augustus White, the Ellen and Melvin Gordon professor of medical education and master of the Holmes Society at the Medical School, to serve on the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health. White, who is also an HMS professor of orthopedic surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will serve on the advisory council through February 2006.