BULLETINFour from HMS Elected to NASThe following HMS faculty members, as well as Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, were among the 72 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences on April 30 in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Harvey Cantor
Professor of Pathology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Cantor, who is chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, made the discovery that the immune system is regulated by two major subsets of T cells, which are genetically programmed to recognize different classes of MHC molecules and mediate distinct immunological functions. These seminal studies established a central paradigm that remains a cornerstone of contemporary immunology.
Laurie Glimcher
Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Glimcher is also the Irene Heinz Given professor of immunology at HSPH. Her research has provided unique insights into the interaction of the major histocompatibility gene products and CD4 T cells that leads to developmental commitment to IL-4 and IFN-gamma expression and T helper cell activity. Her work defining the molecular interactions and transcription factors clarified fundamental aspects of T cell development and offers new possibilities for developing approaches to prevent autoimmune, allergic, and neoplastic disease.
Constance Cepko
Professor of Genetics
Harvard Medical School
Cepko is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute associate investigator and head of the Harvard PhD Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Her interest is in the development of the central nervous system, with a focus on the neural retina. Her primary approach is to identify and study the functions of genes that are involved in development and disease.
Bruce Spiegelman
Professor of Cell Biology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Spiegelman's lab has focused on the regulation of energy metabolism, including the differentiation of fat cells. They have identified a master regulator of adipogenesis at the transcriptional level, PPAR-gamma, that is both necessary and sufficient to drive many precursor cells into fat. This receptor is currently being used in the cancer clinic to attempt to induce pathways of normal cell differentiation in tumors. His lab has also defined a transcriptional co-activator, PGC-1, that controls energy expenditure and thermogenesis through regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis and expression of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins.
New Appointments to Full and Named ProfessorshipsThese faculty members were appointed to a full professorship in March.
Norman Daniels
Professor of Ethics and Population Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Daniels, currently the Goldthwaite professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tufts University, has written extensively on justice, health, and health care. He is interested in the fair distribution of the socially controllable factors that affect health, including the distribution of the social determinants of health, the allocation of health care resources, and the uses of new technologies. Currently he is pursuing a project applying a policy tool he helped to develop--the benchmarks of fairness for health care reform--to health sector reforms in developing countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He will assume his new position on Sept. 1.
William Kaelin
Professor of Medicine
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Kaelin, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is director of the cancer cell biology program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and a member of the National Cancer Institute board of scientific advisers. His research interests relate to the functions of specific tumor suppressor proteins. His work on the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein has identified how mammalian cells sense and respond to changes in oxygen, whereas his work on the retinoblastoma protein and the p53-like protein p73 have helped to elucidate mammalian cell-cycle and apoptotic control pathways.
Li-Huei Tsai
Professor of Pathology
Harvard Medical School
A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Tsai's research focuses on the signaling events by which migration and positioning of neurons in the developing central nervous system are regulated. Her lab is also interested in deciphering dysregulation of protein kinases and hyperphosphorylation of certain proteins in neurodegenerative diseases. Tsai's group has established that cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) plays a significant role in the cytoarchitecture of the CNS and that dysregulation of Cdk5 contributes to neurodegeneration.
Jules Dienstag
Professor of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dienstag is a hepatologist whose professional career has been devoted to understanding and controlling viral hepatitis. His current research focuses on development of antiviral therapy for chronic viral hepatitis, and he is the principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital of a national, randomized, controlled trial of protracted antiviral therapy for patients refractory to treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Since 1998, Dienstag has been the faculty associate dean for admissions and chairman of the admissions committee at HMS.
Julian Pribaz
Professor of Surgery
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Pribaz is the program director for the combined Harvard-wide plastic surgery residency training program and has reconstructive surgery practices at Brigham and Women's and Children's hospitals. His clinical and research interests are in reconstructive microsurgery, especially in the prefabrication of flaps for complex reconstruction and the application of these principles to tissue engineering.
Dan Wikler
Professor of Ethics and Population Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Wikler has served as president of the International Association of Bioethics and as senior staff ethicist of the World Health Organization. His current research interests include health resource allocation, the ethics of research with human subjects, and other ethical issues in global public health, with a particular focus on developing countries. This HMS faculty member was appointed to a named professorship in March. Douglas Mathisen
Hermes C. Grillo Professor of Thoracic Surgery
Massachusetts General Hospital
Mathisen is chief of thoracic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests include management of airway disease, esophageal cancer, and advanced lung cancer. Mathisen is currently a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, chairman of the residency review committee for thoracic surgery, president-elect of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, and treasurer of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, which he also serves as a member of the board of directors.
In MemoriamPerry Eimon, HMS assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System, Brockton campus, died April 20. He was 68. Eimon was the founder and director of the Neuropsychological Laboratory and Clinic at the Brockton VA, where he worked for more than 20 years. He was responsible for all training and clinical care associated with the lab and clinic. He also provided neuropsychological testing services to the Worcester VA community-based outpatient clinic. Through his clinical supervision and seminars, Eimon played a major role in clinical teaching of psychology fellows and staff at the Brockton campus. He leaves his wife, Marilyn.
Honors and AdvancesFloyd Dewhirst, HSDM associate professor of oral biology, and Bruce Paster, HSDM associate professor of oral biology and pathophysiology, both at the Forsyth Institute, were honored at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. Their paper, "Cholangiohepatitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Induced by a Novel Urease- Negative Helicobacter Species in A/J and Tac:ICR:Hascidf RF Mice," published in the May 2001 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, received the Best Paper Award for 2001 in the clinical/preclinical category. They shared the award with the other co-authors. The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression has awarded six grants to HMS faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital. Joseph Biederman, HMS professor of psychiatry, was awarded a Distinguished Investigator grant of $100,000. Five researchers were awarded Young Investigator grants of $60,000 each: Corinne Cather, HMS instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry; Laura Kunkel, HMS clinical fellow in psychiatry; Jordan Smoller, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry; Shamsah Sonawalla, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry; and Adele Viguera, HMS instructor in psychiatry. NARSAD is the largest donor-supported organization funding brain research worldwide. Rakesh Jain, the A. Werk Cook professor of radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been awarded the 2001 Gerritsen Award by the Microcirculatory Society. The $1,000 award is given to the author of the review article published in Microcirculation in the last five years with the most citations. Jain received the award for his article on the delivery of molecular and cellular medicine to solid tumors. Mary Ellen Avery, the Thomas Morgan Rotch professor emeritus of pediatrics at Children's Hospital, has received the Dr. Edwin and Elizabeth Shepherd Lectureship Award from The One Hundred, a philanthropic group that benefits Backus Children's Memorial Hospital at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga. The annual award honors outstanding national achievement in child health, education, and welfare.
News BriefThe Clinical Nutrition Research Center at Harvard invites applications for new pilot/feasibility projects as well as for competing renewals of currently funded one-year projects. Priority is given to junior faculty. The application deadline is June 7. For more information, contact Suzzette McCarron at 617-726-4166 or e-mail smccarron1@partners.org.
Faculty Credits for Longwood Seminars
Many thanks to the faculty members who contributed to the success of the Longwood Seminars this spring: Nutrition and Obesity--Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, Walter Willett; Breast Cancer--Joan Brugge, Yvedt Matory; Learning and Learning Disorders--Deborah Waber, Christopher Walsh; Stroke and Other Brain Trauma--Daniel Lowenstein, Martin Samuels. "This series is an important part of the School's effort to be more a part of the community and to foster increased public understanding of the art and science of medicine," said HMS dean Joseph Martin.
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