Cell Biology:
Live-cell Studies Pick Up Pattern in Vesicle Traffic
Radiology:
Imaging Method Reveals Which Mice Develop Type 1 Diabetes
Endocrinology:
Fat Hormone Revives Reproductive Systems of Lean Women
Systems Biology
Systems Biology, the New Physiology, Marks First Year at HMS
Chemical Staples Turn Flimsy Peptide into Cancer Killer
Female Flies Join Food Fight
Time Zone Controls Limb Size
Images of Rotavirus Entry Show Bug the Exit as Childhood Killer
Contract Supports Research in Biodefense Proteomics
HSPH and Cyprus Establish International Initiative
HMS Welcomes Incoming Students
Stearns Appointed Associate Master of Castle
The Myrto Lefkopoulou Lectureship
Applications Wanted for Health Care Research
Longwood Symphony Season Opens
Honors and Advances
In Memoriam:
Leroy Vandam
Leonard Safon
Robert Moylan
Students Aid Families with Special-needs Children
Students Orient Themselves Toward Medicine
Contract Supports Research in Biodefense Proteomics
A Biodefense Proteomics Research Program contract has been given to the Harvard Institute of Proteomics and will be led by institute director Joshua LaBaer and coprincipal investigator Leonardo Brizuela, HMS lecturers on biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology. The $12.4 million, five-year contract, awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease's Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, aims to provide comprehensive genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics resources to the scientific community. LaBaer and Brizuela, collaborating with John Mekalanos, the Adele Lehman professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at HMS, and Ed Ryan, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, have outlined three objectives for HIP in conjunction with the contract. The team will create a collection of full-length open reading frame clones representing the complete proteomes for Vibrio cholerae and Bacillus anthracis in protein expression-ready format; devise protein microarrays representing the proteomes for V. cholerae and B. anthracis; and identify and validate novel targets for therapeutic intervention and vaccine and biomarker development.
HSPH and Cyprus Establish International Initiative
HSPH and the government of the Republic of Cyprus are establishing an international research, education, and training effort focused on the environment and public health. To launch the initiative, the government of Cyprus is contributing funds for both endowment and research grants to HSPH, as well as establishing a new Cypriot government-sponsored international research institute in Cyprus."We care about public health. We care about the environment because it touches upon the life of each and every individual in Cyprus, and not only our present generation, but generations to come," said Republic of Cyprus president Tassos Papadopoulos, who addressed a seminar at HSPH announcing the initiative. He expressed the hope that Cyprus, historically at the crossroads of European and Asian cultures, might become "a regional center for research and excellence with the assistance of your institution."
The international initiative is bringing together researchers and educators from Harvard, Cyprus, other European countries, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean region to examine environmental issues affecting the health of populations of the region. Education and training will take place at the new Cyprus International Institute for the Environment and Public Health and at the HSPH-Cyprus Program at the School's Boston campus.
The program at HSPH will be directed by Petros Koutrakis, HSPH professor of environmental sciences in the Department of Environmental Health. In Cyprus, efforts will be directed initially by Philip Demokritou, HSPH assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health, who is taking a leave of absence from the faculty to get the new initiative under way.
HMS Welcomes Incoming Students
Addressing fellow students at the multicultural affairs reception held on Sept. 7 is first-year medical student Jamey Snell with event host Alvin Poussaint, faculty associate dean for student affairs. The reception was sponsored by the Office of Recruitment and Multicultural Affairs. At another welcome reception, on Sept. 9, HMS dean Joseph Martin greeted 84 incoming graduate students to the Division of Medical Sciences. The students, 58 percent of whom are women, hail from 57 different undergraduate institutions in the U.S. and abroad. "Your challenge is first to master the state of current understanding in your chosen field," Martin said, "and second--and more important--to help bring us to the next level of understanding." (Photo by Jeff Cleary)
Stearns Appointed Associate Master of Castle
Dana Stearns, HMS assistant professor of surgery in the Emergency Department at MGH, has been appointed associate master of the William B. Castle Society at HMS.Castle Society master Orah Platt, HMS professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston, said, "I am very proud of this new appointment. It is a new approach to the associate master position since we are focusing on delivering student services like advising and counseling right at MGH." Approximately 30 percent of Castle students are at MGH at any given time. "We think that having an official outpost of the society on-site will be a great boon to the students," Platt said.
The Myrto Lefkopoulou Lectureship
The HSPH Department of Biostatistics has named Geert Molenberghs, professor of biostatistics at Limburgs Universitair Centrum, as the 2004 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lecturer. Molenberghs will present a lecture on Thursday, Sept. 30, at HSPH. The title is "Handling Incomplete Data in Longitudinal Studies." A reception will be held following the lecture.Each year, the Myrto Lefkopoulou lectureship is awarded to a promising statistician who has made contributions to either collaborative or methodologic research in the application of statistical methods to biology or medicine and has shown excellence in the teaching of biostatistics. The lectureship was established in perpetuity in memory of Dr. Myrto Lefkopoulou, a faculty member and graduate of HSPH who died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 34.
Nominations for next year's lectureship are welcome and should be sent to the Myrto Lefkopoulou Lecture Committee, Department of Biostatistics, HSPH, 655 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Nominations should include a letter of nomination and a CV. The deadline for submission of nominations is March 15, 2005.
Applications Wanted for The Eleventh Annual Health Care Research Award
The National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation is accepting applications for its Eleventh Annual Health Care Research Award recognizing outstanding work in health policy and management. The award focuses on excellence in original and creative research in health care best practices and implementation of health care policy. The award includes a $5,000 prize for the winning article. All submitted entries must have appeared in a peer-reviewed journal or similar quality publication between Sept. 1, 2003, and Aug. 31, 2004. All applications must be received by Sept. 30, 2004. For more information or an entry form, please visit www.nihcm.org.
Longwood Symphony Orchestra Opens Season
On Oct. 30, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and HMS present the inaugural concert of the 2004-2005 season. The LSO, now in its 22nd year, comprises faculty, students, and staff from 18 hospitals and three medical schools. Under the direction of Jeffery Rink, the symphony will perform selections by Elgar, Liszt, and Bizet. Proceeds benefit nonprofit organizations with medical missions, and this concert will support the creation of the Daniel D. Federman professorship in medical education at HMS. Federman is the senior dean for alumni relations and clinical teaching and the former dean for medical education at HMS. The concert will be held at 8:00 p.m. at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston. For more information or to purchase tickets, please e-mail Mary Perry.
Honors and Advances
A Damon Runyon fellowship has been awarded to Pardis Sabeti, a postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute and an HMS student. The award recognizes outstanding young scientists who are conducting research on cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention. Sabeti's work involves detecting natural selection in the human genome. She will use the $134,000, three-year award to study the genetic diversity of 132 key immunologic genes to identify evolving immunologic variants and to elucidate the variation of these genes in order to develop working assays for further studies. Sabeti has also received a $20,000 fellowship from the L'Oréal USA for Women in Science Program, which recognized her as a promising young researcher.The American Public Health Association has given two awards to HMS faculty at Cambridge Hospital. Barbara Dickey, HMS associate professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, received the Carl Taube Award in recognition of a career contribution to the field of mental health services research. Dickey's work on quality-of-care issues is centered on the cost-effectiveness of different types of public sector care delivery and payment systems, housing for the homeless, and care for adults with schizophrenia. Also recognized was Margarita Alegria, HMS visiting professor of psychology at Cambridge Hospital, who received the 2003 Mental Health Section Award for outstanding service. Executive director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at the Cambridge Health Alliance, Alegria focuses her research on delivery of mental health services to multicultural populations.
Steven Pearson, HMS associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, has been awarded an Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy at London's National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The year-long fellowship provides an opportunity for midcareer professionals to gain experience in public policy in the United Kingdom. Pearson will study how policymakers integrate economic evidence and public values into health coverage decisions.
The American Medical Association Foundation recognized Claudia Martorell, HMS research fellow in social medicine and Commonwealth Fund fellow, with the Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award. Martorell chairs the public health committee of the Hampden District Medical Society in Springfield, Mass., where she has implemented health prevention workshops and a mentoring program. The award is made possible by a grant from the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.
Robert Goldwyn, clinical professor of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and former chief of plastic surgery at BID, was given an honorary award from the American Association of Plastic Surgery for his lifetime contribution to plastic surgery, history of medicine, and medical ethics.
The Broad Institute's Brad Bernstein and Vamsi Mootha have each received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences. Bernstein and Mootha, postdoctoral fellows at Broad, were two of 16 biomedical scientists selected by the fund, each receiving $500,000 over five years toward postdoctoral training and the early years of faculty service. Bernstein, also a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard and an HMS instructor in pathology at Brigham and Women's, is developing genomic and proteomic methods to identify chemical variations in histones and their effects on gene expression. Mootha, an HMS lecturer on systems biology and instructor in medicine at BWH, is using genomics, proteomics, and computation to decipher the cell's instructions for making mitochondria. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent, private foundation dedicated to advancing medical sciences.
Theresa McLoud, director of education in the HMS Department of Radiology, associate radiologist-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, and HMS professor of radiology at MGH, is one of three recipients of the highest award given by the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Radiology. The medal was presented at the ARRS annual meeting in Miami, Fla., in May.
A Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship was awarded to Feng Shao, a research fellow in cell biology at HMS. Shao was commended for the research project, "The Role of Ubiquitin-mediated Proteolysis in Mouse Hematopoietic and Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation." He was sponsored by Marc Kirschner, the chairman of Systems Biology at the Medical School.
In Memoriam
Leroy Vandam, HMS professor emeritus of anesthesia, passed away on April 8 at the age of 90.
Vandam graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1934, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and received his MD from New York University College of Medicine in 1938. In 1939, he became chief surgical resident at Beth Israel Hospital. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Medical Corps and sustained an eye injury that ended his surgical career.
Subsequently, he retrained in anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania and spent 25 years as the first anesthesiologist-in-chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and chairman of its newly founded Department of Anesthesia. In 1954, he was the anesthesiologist in charge of the world's first successful human kidney transplant, and in 1967, he became an HMS professor of anesthesia.
Vandam published hundreds of papers on a range of topics, from the risks of spinal anesthesia to the achievements of the pioneers in his field. Early in his career, with colleagues Robert Dripps and James Eckenhoff, he wrote Introduction to Anesthesia, still the leading text in the field. From 1962 to 1970, he was editor-in-chief of Anesthesiology, the flagship journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He was the chairman of the advisory panel on anesthesiology to the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, a trustee of the Boston Medical Library, a fellow of the American College of Anesthesiology, and a fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, which awarded him the Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor, in 1977.
Vandam leaves his sons, Albert and Samuel; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Contributions in his honor may be sent to the Leroy Vandam Library at the Development Office, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115.
Leonard Safon, who was an HMS associate clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, died March 28 at age 78. Safon served in the Navy during World War II, after which he graduated from Northeastern University and went on to earn an MS in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1956, he received an MD from Boston University. He was a surgical resident at Boston City Hospital from 1956 to 1958 and later completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Boston Hospital for Women.
He joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at BWH in 1961, where he emphasized multidisciplinary teamwork. He was known for his generosity toward students and residents and his willingness to teach junior obstetricians.
During his career, Safon received the award for best teacher in obstetrics more than 10 times. The award was later renamed in his honor as the Leonard E. Safon Award for Teaching of Obstetrics. He retired from practice in 1997 with more than 10,000 deliveries to his credit throughout his more than 40-year career.
Safon leaves his wife, Jean; sons Brad and Todd; and five grandchildren. Donations can be made in his memory to the Leonard E. Safon, MD Lectureship Fund in Clinical Obstetrics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, c/o Development Office, 116 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02116, or Temple Aliyah, 1664 Central Ave., Needham, MA 02492.
Robert Moylan, HMS clinical instructor in surgery, passed away on Aug. 11 at age 63.
Moylan received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his MD from the New Jersey College of Medicine in Newark in 1967. He completed his internship and junior residency in surgery at Emory University in Atlanta. He entered the Navy and served as a medical officer aboard destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea.
After completing his residency in urology at Boston City Hospital in 1974, Moylan entered private practice and joined HMS in 1977 as a clinical instructor at Beth Israel Hospital. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, as well as a member of the American Urological Society and the Boston Surgical Society. Besides his private practice in Cambridge, Moylan was on staff at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, and other hospitals.