HMS Faculty Council Highlights

At the faculty council meeting on Nov. 2, Joseph Martin, HMS dean of the Faculty of Medicine, formally announced that Susan Pauker, HMS associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, had been elected as vice chair of the council for the 2005–06 year.

Ronald Arky, the Charles S. Davidson distinguished professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and master of the Peabody Society, updated the council on the Cambridge Integrated Clerkship experience, which is in its second year at the Cambridge Health Alliance. Nicole Michaelson Baumer, Jenny Stillwaggon Radesky, and Jenny Siegel, three students who are participating in the pilot, spoke about their experiences.

The students stressed how much they valued their relationship with their preceptors and how the experience of being in one hospital allowed them to build strong one-on-one relationships. The students said they were more involved in patient care from the outset and were able to follow their patients’ developing progress. They were able to build trust with their panel of patients and felt more comfortable and confident. They also appreciated having a mentor in each discipline.

Assessment data indicated that the Principal Clinical Experience students are more involved in seeing hospital patients before their initial diagnosis and decision for admission, as well as after their discharge.

Laurie Raymond, director of the office of advising resources at HMS, gave a talk on where boards and shelf exams fit in the wider context of student life, learning, and development. Raymond stressed the importance of incorporating specific teaching of learning strategies for life-long, self-directed learning; more dialogue about the realities of stress, depression, and specific teaching of strategies for stress management; and time and attention for personal development, along with self-care and self-knowledge in order to manage the stress of a patient-directed career.

Martin commented briefly on the progress of the Medical Education Reform Initiative and noted that the recent retreat was a success.

Martin acknowledged the declining level of NIH support and its impact on the research enterprise. He also informed members about the Request for Applications for Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards recently released by the NIH.

HSPH Receives $30 Million to Study Antiretroviral Therapy Effects on Children

Researchers at HSPH and other institutions have been awarded a $30 million five-year grant to study the long-term effects on children of antiretroviral (ART) drugs administered to their pregnant mothers in an effort to prevent mother-to-infant transmission of HIV. The grant will establish the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) to evaluate two cohorts of children, one including those infected by HIV and the other those uninfected. “It is suspected that while ART therapy saves the lives of thousands of children born to HIV-positive mothers, these strong medications may have some long-term safety concerns,” said George Seage, HSPH associate professor of epidemiology and the grant’s principal investigator. The grant is from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

Appointments to Full Professor

The following faculty members were appointed to a full professorship in October.

Richard Hodin, Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital
Hodin’s research is on the processes of intestinal epithelial growth and differentiation. The laboratory has identified a molecular switch that occurs within the gut under a variety of disease states, including starvation, sepsis, and inflammation. Their work has focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible for the gut mucosal dysfunction that is seen in the context of these diseases.

Sean Colgan, Professor of Anesthesia, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Colgan’s research has focused on defining novel aspects of mucosal inflammation. His studies have elucidated molecular pathways relevant to the resolution of inflammatory disease, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of mucosal epithelial cells. His work has also made significant contributions to the current understanding of metabolic changes associated with inflammatory disease, particularly oxygen metabolism and the role of hypoxia in inflammatory signaling.

Gilbert Daniels, Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Daniels has been the clinical director of the MGH Endocrine Fellowship program for 23 years. A clinician teacher, he has developed and directed the MGH post-graduate courses in thyroid disease and endocrinology. He has received several honors, among them the Distinguished Physician Award of the Endocrine Society and the Distinguished Clinician Award of the American College of Endocrinology.

Jen Sheen, Professor of Genetics, Massachusetts General Hospital
Sheen’s laboratory investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to central regulators, such as sugars, hormones, stresses, and pathogen elicitors. They are especially interested in developing simple and powerful assays to efficiently explore plant genome resources. They have used an integrated approach—by combining genomic, cellular, biochemical, genetic, proteomic, and bioinformatic tools—to discover key regulatory genes and molecules that control diverse plant signal transduction pathways.

Primate Center Hosts German Student Researchers

Courtesy NEPRC

Three students arrived at the New England Primate Research Center this August as the first participants in HMS’s new joint graduate student–training program with the University of Erlangen-Nurenberg in Germany. Nadine Salisch, Michaela Gack, and Marieke Meythaler (left to right) will each spend three years conducting their thesis research under the direction of an HMS faculty member at NEPRC. All of the students will be working on projects related to viruses of the immune system. “This new training program is a tremendous opportunity,” said Ronald Desrosiers, director of NEPRC. “These new students are the cream of the crop of German students interested in virology, and their presence will definitely enhance the vibrancy of our research environment.” The program was launched by a grant from the German Science Foundation to Desrosiers and Bernhard Fleckenstein, head of the Institute for Clinical and Molecular Virology at the University of Erlangen-Nurenberg.

Gates Establishes Nieman Fellowships In Health Reporting

Nieman Fellowships in global health reporting have been established at Harvard University as a joint initiative of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and HSPH. Three fellows—one from the United States, one from Europe, and one from the developing world—will be chosen annually, starting with the 2006–2007 academic year. Fellows will pursue a concentrated course of study at HSPH and will have access to faculty and courses throughout the University. “This new initiative underscores the far-reaching influence that well-informed journalists can have in drawing the world’s attention to the challenges of HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and other health threats in developing countries,” said Jay Winsten, HSPH associate dean for public and community affairs and the Frank Stanton director of the School’s Center for Health Communication. The fellowships are supported by a three-year, $1.19 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Federal Grant Helps DF/HCC Reduce Health Disparities in Boston

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and the University of Massachusetts Boston a five-year, $4.3 million grant to develop a strategy to reduce health disparities in Boston neighborhoods. The two centers will use the award to develop research programs; increase cancer-focused training opportunities for minority students, postdoctoral fellows, and nursing PhD students; increase community outreach, cancer education, and the promotion of evidenced-based programs; and develop shared mechanisms for minority faculty recruitment and career development.

“Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and UMass–Boston have formed a bold and visionary partnership that’s going to enable us to make great progress in addressing the critical problem of minority health disparities, attracting new talent into the health care professions, and maintaining Boston’s position at the forefront of medical research,” said Senator Edward Kennedy, who announced the NIH award.

The Broads Double Gift to Institute

Eli and Edythe Broad, the philanthropists whose donations helped create the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard 18 months ago, announced in November that they will be doubling their founding gift of $100 million to the institute. The new sum is the largest donation ever given to a joint venture between two universities and will be paid out over 10 years. “Edythe and I have been impressed by the tremendous progress already made by the scientists at the Broad Institute,” said Eli Broad. “We are making this gift because we believe that the next generation of young scientists has the vision and ability to transform medicine.”

Pe’er Takes Burroughs Career Award in Physical–Biological Sciences

Donna Pe’er, HMS research fellow in genetics, is one of the 10 recipients of the 2006 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI). The five-year, $500,000 award is given to postdoctoral researchers whose work explores the interface between the physical/computational sciences and the biological sciences. The fund launched the CASI program in 2002. Pe’er’s grant will be used to finance her project, “A systems approach to elucidate integration of signal and decision in cells.”

Mills Appointed Associate Dean for Planning and Facilities

Richard Mills has been appointed the associate dean for planning and facilities, a position he has held on an interim basis since September. As associate dean, Mills will support the institutional strategic planning process surrounding the Allston initiative and act as in-house consultant for program planning. He will manage the HMS real estate portfolio and plan and oversee construction and renovation projects on campus. In addition, Mills will oversee HMS campus operations such as parking, dining services, security, and facilities maintenance. Prior to coming to HMS, Mills worked at a private consulting practice focused on infrastructure project management.

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