Appointments to Full Professor

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

Lloyd M. Aiello
Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology
Joslin Diabetes Center
Aiello’s research involves designing, developing, validating, and deploying an eye–health care model in diabetes for remote sites using telemedicine-enabling technology. This approach improves access to high-quality diabetic eye and medical care in a cost-effective manner, spanning diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers. Aiello’s other major research interests and accomplishments include the design, development, and implementation of clinical trials evaluating laser photocoagulation, oral agents, and other novel treatments for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.

Dana Gabuzda
Professor of Neurology
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Gabuzda studies the mechanisms of HIV replication and pathogenesis. Her areas of research include HIV pathogenesis in the immune system and central nervous system, particularly mechanisms that lead to immune dysfunction and neurologic disease in AIDS. Other areas of research include understanding how the HIV Vif (viral infectivity factor) protein overcomes innate immunity mediated by APOBEC3G and developing high-throughput screens to identify small molecules that inhibit Vif. She is a faculty member of the PhD
Program in Virology.

Samuel Goldhaber
Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Goldhaber’s research focuses on the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis. He also carries out clinical research studies of antithrombotic, thrombolytic, and antiplatelet agents. Goldhaber runs BWH’s Anticoagulation Service, which comprises more than 1,800 active patients. His research emphasizes methodological strategies to enhance patient safety and prevent adverse thromboembolic and hemorrhagic outcomes. Goldhaber is exploring new methods of increasing awareness of venous thromboembolism among the lay public and health care professionals.

Nancy Krieger
Professor of Society, Human
Development, and Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Krieger is a social epidemiologist with a background in biochemistry, philosophy of science, and history of public health, as well as an activist for issues involving social justice, science, and health. Focusing on social inequalities in health, her work involves etiologic studies of these inequalities, methods for improving the monitoring of inequalities, and development of theoretical frameworks to guide research on understanding and addressing social determinants of health.

John Weisz
Professor of Psychology
Judge Baker Children’s Center
Weisz’s research focuses on psychotherapy with children and adolescents. He conducts effectiveness trials of therapies in community mental health clinics and in schools, and carries out meta-analyses assessing the effects of therapy for various child and adolescent conditions. He is director of the Research Network on Youth Mental Health.

Named Professorships

Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services

At the Nov. 9 celebration of the C.C. Wang Professorship in Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital president Peter Slavin began his remarks by saying, “Today we are honoring two great physicians at MGH in the field of radiation oncology.” One of them, C.C. Wang (left), now an emeritus faculty member at HMS, was head of the hospital’s Clinical Division of Radiation Oncology. The other, the first incumbent of the chair, Nancy Tarbell (right), is the division chief of radiation oncology at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Slavin said that in addition to the technical prowess necessary for the field, one of the demands is dealing with very sick patients. He explained that Tarbell meets this challenge by possessing some of the attributes of Buddha: “She has a very cool head, but also a very warm heart,” he said. Wang, according to Tarbell, has an infectious optimism. He used to tell patients that C.C. stood for “cure cancer.” His energy and humor helped many patients through some very tough moments. Addressing Wang at the end her talk, Tarbell said, “Most of all, I would like to thank C.C. for his friendship, his wisdom, his care, and his compassion.”

Photo by Justin Knight

HMS dean Joseph Martin opened the Nov. 3 celebration of the Thomas W. Smith, MD Professorship in Medicine calling the late Thomas Smith “one of the great figures in Harvard medicine.” A clinical cardiologist, Smith led the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for 22 years. Among the luminaries who spoke at the event, Eugene Braunwald, the Hersey distinguished professor of theory and practice of physic at HMS and BWH, said Smith was an “extraordinarily creative and gifted investigator.” Braunwald continued, “If Tom Smith were alive, he would take the greatest joy at learning that Christine Seidman will be the first incumbent.” A Howard Hughes investigator and pioneer in the genetics of myocardial disease, Seidman took the lectern, saying, “I’ve been blessed with many honors, but none is more meaningful to me than this one.” She said that holding a chair carrying the name of Tom Smith is “simply breathtaking.” At the celebration above are Seidman (second from right) and (from left) Thomas Smith’s widow Sherley Gardner Smith; his daughter, Allison McDonough; and son, Geoffrey Smith.

Faculty Named to Scientific American 50 List of Influential Scientists

Five HMS scientists were listed as research leaders in Scientific American 50, the magazine’s roster of the 50 individuals or organizations who have been most influential in science or technology in the past year. The HMS honorees are Zheng-Yi Chen, HMS assistant professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital; George Church, HMS professor of genetics; Bradley Hyman, the John B. Penney, Jr. professor of neurology at MGH and HMS; Mark T. Keating, formerly HMS professor of cell biology at Children’s Hospital Boston; and R. Clay Reid, HMS professor of neurobiology, who will appear in the December issue of Scientific American. Chen is recognized for his research on the applications of gene therapy to hearing loss and other chronic conditions, Church for inventing a new method to produce synthetic DNA, and Hyman for developing early brain scanning tools that help pinpoint the presence of Alzheimer’s disease. Keating, who left the School in August, is honored for his experiments using biomedical engineering to enable heart muscle cells to multiply. Reid, whose inclusion in the list was announced in the Nov. 11 Focus, is honored for his research on imaging technology for the brain.

New COO Named at Dana–Farber

Janet Porter, associate dean at the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health, who worked for nine years as chief operating officer of Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute.

Porter will oversee DFCI’s daily operations, working closely with collaborating hospitals to help manage the administration of the Dana–Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and Dana–Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Care, which provide care to adult and pediatric patients. She will also join the leadership team of Dana–Farber/Partners CancerCare, a joint venture with Partners HealthCare.

“Janet has exactly the experience and personal qualities that we have been looking for,” said Edward Benz Jr., DFCI’s president. “She brings a wonderful mix of practical, hands-on experience as a COO of a major hospital, a track record as a highly respected academic leader, and a personal style of leadership that will make her highly successful here.”

Reunion Symposium Features Old Friends, New Structures

Photos by Steve Gilbert

On Nov. 12 and 13 former students and postdoctoral fellows of Don Wiley and Stephen Harrison gathered at the Harrison–Wiley Laboratory Reunion Symposium: Structural Biology 2005. Sessions covered proteins and nucleic acids, cell–cell interactions, intracellular signaling, and viral assembly and entry. Harrison is a Howard Hughes investigator and an HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology and of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston; Wiley was the John L. Loeb professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Harvard University until his tragic death in November 2001. The Harrison–Wiley labs collaborated closely for many years. On the right is Stephen Harrison attending a presentation. William Clemons (left), an HMS research fellow in cell biology, speaks about protein translocation, and Judy White, now at the University of Virginia, gives a talk about viral fusion mechanisms.

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