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BULLETIN
Jain Elected to National Academy of EngineeringAmong the 76 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is Rakesh Jain, director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, the A. Werk Cook professor of radiation oncology (tumor biology) at HMS and MGH, and a member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Election to the NAE, part of the National Academy of Sciences, is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. The NAE is charged with identifying issues at the intersection of engineering, technology, and society that affect quality of life. Jain is cited for integrating bioengineering with tumor biology and imaging gene expression and other functions in vivo for delivering drugs to tumors. He focuses his research on tumor pathophysiology, bioengineering, and molecular, cellular, anatomical, and functional imaging. His interests include tumor angiogenesis and microcirculation, tumor-host interactions, vascular and interstitial transport in tumors, delivery of molecular and cellular medicine to tumors, and mathematical modeling.
Grant Advances Clinical Research at Children's
Children's Hospital has been awarded a grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), totaling approximately $20 million over five years, for research on understanding heart development and treatment of pediatric heart disease. The award is part of a new initiative, the Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR) program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to foster multidisciplinary collaboration so basic research advances are rapidly translated into clinical care.
Principal investigator Jane Newburger, HMS professor of pediatrics and associate cardiologist-in-chief at Children's, and colleagues will use the funding to improve the treatment and outcome of children with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a common congenital heart condition characterized by a ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis. In approaches ranging from laboratory-based investigations to clinical human studies, Newburger and colleagues will explore TOF's genetic causes; the developmental, neurologic, and behavioral outcomes in adolescent survivors; surgical methods to improve long-term health of the right ventricle; and molecular pathways and cellular strategies for strengthening right ventricular function, including heart muscle regeneration using zebrafish models. Newburger's colleagues on the SCCOR grant include clinical and basic scientists from Children's, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, HMS, and Harvard University. Children's is one of four hospitals to receive an NHLBI award. Two of them, including Children's, will also have Clinical Research Skills Development Cores that train fellows and junior faculty in clinical research, including grant writing, ethical conduct of research, and clinical trial design. (Photo courtesy of Children's Hospital)
Two Innovator Awards Totaling $10m Received for Breast Cancer ResearchThe Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program has given Innovator Awards to HMS professors Stephen Elledge and Judah Folkman, each for $5 million. Nominated by their peers, Elledge and Folkman are recognized for their creative thinking and scientific leadership. They are the only two researchers in the country to receive these prizes for 2003. The awards provide the funding and the freedom to pursue innovative plans that could contribute to the eradication of breast cancer.Elledge, the Gregor Mendel professor of genetics and of medicine at HMS, was recognized for his research project, "Genomic Approaches for Detection and Treatment of Breast Cancer." His work focuses on the early detection and specific killing of tumor cells, using the immune system to signal the presence of tumorigenic activity. Folkman, the Julia Dyckman Andrus professor of pediatric surgery at HMS and Children's Hospital and a member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, was recognized for his project, "Prevention of the Angiogenic Switch in Human Breast Cancer." Folkman is working on the development of blood and urine tests to diagnose breast cancer and other cancers before or during the angiogenic switch.
Loeffler Named Suit Professor in Radiation Oncology On March 2, Jay Loeffler, formerly the Andres Soriano professor of radiation oncology at HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital, was named the new Herman and Joan Suit professor of radiation oncology at MGH. Herman Suit, the Andres Soriano distinguished professor of radiation oncology at HMS and MGH and chief of radiation oncology at MGH, held the first Soriano professorship. The Suits also instituted the Herman and Joan Suit librarianship of the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University in 1991. Above are (left to right) Herman Suit, HMS dean Joseph Martin, Jay Loeffler, and Joan Suit. William Shipley, formerly HMS professor of radiation oncology at MGH, was named the new Andres Soriano professor of radiation oncology at HMS and MGH. The Soriano professorship is named for a Filipino industrialist who had surgery for cancer at MGH in 1964, but died there of the disease. The chair was established in 1986 by Soriano's sons. (Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Grant Goes to Golub for Cancer Research
Todd Golub has received a $500,000 grant from the Freedom to Discover Program of Bristol-Myers Squibb, which recognizes scientists who pioneer new approaches to combat disease. Golub, associate Howard Hughes investigator, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital, the cancer program director at the Broad Institute, and the Charles A. Dana investigator at Dana-Farber, will use the grant to apply information on the human genome toward developing better diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer. In particular, 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. (Photo by Steve Gilbert)
Vlahakes Named Chief for Surgery at MGHGus Vlahakes, HMS professor of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been named chief of MGH Cardiac Surgery, a position he has held on an interim basis since 2003. He succeeds David Torchiana, HMS associate professor of surgery at MGH, who left the position to lead the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization as chairman and CEO. Before Vlahakes became interim chief of cardiac surgery, he was the unit chief of pediatric cardiac surgery in the Cardiac Surgery Division for 16 years. His clinical interests also include adult congenital heart surgery, mechanical circulatory support, and arrhythmia surgery. His research interests are right heart function and mitral valve physiology.
Skin Cancer SPORE Offers Grants to Faculty The Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in skin cancer within the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center is accepting applications for the 2004 Career Development Award, a one-time award of $75,000. Junior faculty members at Harvard and its affiliates are eligible and must have an MD with an interest in translational research or a PhD with an interest in the application of basic science to the problem of skin cancer. To apply, submit a CV, three letters of recommendation (one of which must be from the department chair), a personal statement including long-term research goals, and a three-page research plan. The SPORE in skin cancer also seeks grant applications for developmental projects from DF/HCC faculty and advanced postdoctoral fellows. Applications for both grants are due by April 15 and should be sent to Thomas Kupper, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Institutes of Medicine, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115. For more information, contact Alex Gionfriddo at 617-525-5570 or agionfriddo@partners.org.
Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at HMS, has been awarded the 2004 H. Richard Nesson, MD Award by the Biomedical Science Careers Program. The award takes its name from the former president of Brigham and Women's Hospital and first CEO of Partners HealthCare System, who passed away in 1998. The Nesson award recognizes commitment to excellence through diversity and leadership in expanding academic and career opportunities. Martin (right) is pictured with Nesson's son Ted (left) and widow Lois. (Photo by Jeff Thiebauth)
Honors and AdvancesThe Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) Young Investigator Award has been given to Joel Hirschhorn, HMS assistant professor of genetics (pediatrics) at Children's Hospital and associate member of the Broad Institute. The award recognizes the achievements of physicians embarking on careers investigating diseases affecting children. Hirschhorn's research involves uncovering the inherited factors that lead to variations in susceptibility to common diseases. He will present his research at the annual meeting of the SPR in San Francisco in May. Two HMS PhD candidates have been given 2004 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student awards, sponsored by the basic sciences division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. David Langenau, a PhD candidate in biology and biomedical sciences, has been working at Dana-Farber using zebrafish to identify genetic enhancers and suppressors of cancer. Ava Brent, a PhD candidate in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program with a concentration in genetics, is working in the lab of Cliff Tabin, HMS professor of genetics, on the origin of the tendons associated with the axial skeleton and the developmental regulation of somitic tendon progenitors. The awards are named for a founding member of Fred Hutchinson's basic sciences division and a leader in the field of microbiology who died from brain cancer in 1995 at age 49. The 2004 F. Marian Bishop Educator of the Year award from the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (ATPM) has been given to Nancy Rigotti, HMS associate professor of medicine and of ambulatory care and prevention at Massachusetts General Hospital. Rigotti was recognized for the preventive medicine teaching she has done at HMS since 1990, when she became course director of the Preventive Medicine and Nutrition course. Peter Howley, the Shattuck professor of pathological anatomy and chairman of the Department of Pathology at HMS, is the recipient of the 2004 Rous-Whipple Award for distinguished and ongoing research in pathology from the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP). His research has focused on understanding viral carcinogenesis, especially cancer triggered by human papillomavirus infection. In recognition of the award, Howley will deliver a lecture, "Ubiquitin Mediated Proteolysis and Cancer: Lessons from the Papillomaviruses," at the ASIP annual meeting in Washington, D.C., this April. The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans have awarded two-year grants to two HMS students. Lipika Goyal is a first-year HMS student and plans a career in public health. As a Rhodes scholar, she recently earned an M.Phil in development studies from Oxford University and also holds a BA in the biological basis of development from the University of Pennsylvania. Sachin Jain, a second-year HMS student and president of the HMS student council, is focusing on improving national access to quality health care. He earned an AB degree in government from Harvard University and plans to begin working toward a public policy degree from the Kennedy School of Government in 2005. Soros fellowships are given to graduate students who are naturalized citizens, resident aliens, or the children of naturalized citizens. |
