Cell Biology 1: Protein Components Identified in RNA Splicer Cell Biology 2: How Does Nucleus Tell Signals Apart? It's in the Timing Tissue Engineering: Mammalian Teeth Regrown in Lab Global Environment: Report Documents Health Effect of Biodiversity Diversity: HMS Minority Faculty Development Program Named Federal Center of Excellence Neurology: New Center to Focus on Nervous System Repair The Autumn Bookshelf: Recent Books by Faculty of HMS, HSDM, and HSPH   Learning the Patient's Perspective   Cell Death Signals May Model Future Cancer Drugs HIV Transmission from Mother to Child Boosted by Vitamin A Stem Cell Types Share Key Genetics Program Drug Promising for Complication of Stem Cell Transplants   New Appointments to Full Professorships HSPH Alum Rides "Race of Remembrance" Scott Professorship Highlights Care of Children Reception Held for Incoming Minority Students Honors and Advances News Briefs In Memoriam: Robert Gould Sanford Palay William Quinby Douglas Richardson David Tapper J. Gordon Scannell   'Fat Bias': A Barrier to the Treatment of Obese Patients Front Page

DIVERSITY HMS Minority Faculty Development Program Named Federal Center of Excellence The Minority Faculty Development Program, established in 1990 to increase minority faculty recruitment and retention as well as to expand the local pool of minority students from elementary to graduate school who are pursuing careers in science and medicine, has been named a Center of Excellence by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. With the new designation, the program was granted $1.6 million over three years. "Receiving Center of Excellence status for our minority faculty development and student pipeline programs is a significant milestone for the School's efforts," said Joan Reede, who was recently appointed the dean for diversity and community partnership at HMS, the School's first African-American female dean. "This award is also a tremendous recognition of the determination of our affiliated hospitals, the Boston public school system, and the Boston business community. The results of these efforts will be better health care outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities in our community," added Reede, whose office oversees the Minority Faculty Development Program. This year, an Institute of Medicine report documented that racial bias, historical mistrust, and communication barriers between health care workers and patients are strongly associated with differential treatment standards, low patient satisfaction, and poor long-term health outcomes. The report's recommendations include an increase in the proportion of underrepresented U.S. racial and ethnic minorities among health professionals. Though minorities compose more than 25 percent of the U.S. population, they make up only 10 percent of the health care work force. Aggravating this situation is a decline in the number of applications to U.S. medical schools from underrepresented minorities. Applications from these students decreased from 5,157 in 1996 to 4,091 in 2001, according to figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Recognizing the need to create a systemwide strategy at HMS and its 17 affiliated hospitals for recruitment and retention of minority faculty, the School launched the Minority Faculty Development Program, which has since created a range of overlapping pipeline programs. The results are beginning to show. From 1997 to 2001, the number of underrepresented minority assistant professors grew from 31 to 51, and the number of instructors grew from 222 to 403. In the 2000-2001 academic year, middle and high school programs designed to foster a lifelong interest in science among minority students served a total of 452 participants ranging from kindergarten to high school. Participants in one such program, Project Success, which places high school students from Boston or Cambridge in Harvard research sites during the summer, have an almost 99 percent matriculation rate at four-year colleges. Among the efforts that the Center of Excellence grant will support are the development of linkage opportunities for underrepresented minority students and faculty advisers; further strengthening of residency recruitment; providing career development opportunities for residents and junior faculty; augmenting cultural competency training; creating awareness and linkage opportunities among investigators with an interest in research in minority health, health disparities, or minority work force issues; and increasing student participation in the function of community-based minority health facilities. --John Lacey